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LIBRARY    I 

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UNDER    THE    SHADOW 
OF    ETNA 


"  UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA.' 


UNDER  THE  SHADOW 
OF  ETNA 


SICILIAN    STORIES    FROM    THE    ITALIAN    OF 

GIOVANNI    VERGA 


BY 
NATHAN    HASKELL    DOLE 


ILLUSTRATED 


BOSTON 

JOSEPH   KNIGHT   COMPANY 
1896 


COPYRIGHT,  1895, 
BY  JOSEPH  KNIGHT  COMPANY. 


Printed  by  C.  H.  Simonds  &  Co. 
Boston,  U.S.A. 


CONTENTS. 

How  PEPPA  LOVED  GRAMIGNA         .        .  i 

JELI,  THE  SHEPHERD 23 

RUSTIC  CHIVALRY  (Cavalleria  Rusticana)  101 

LA  LUPA 117 

THE  STORY  OF  THE  ST.  JOSEPH'S  Ass      .  131 

THE  BEREAVED 163 


197 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

"UNDER  THE  SHADOW  OF  ETNA"      Frontispiece 
JELI,  THE  SHEPHERD 22 

"LOLA  USED  TO  GO  OUT  ON  THE  BALCONY 

WITH  HER  HANDS  CROSSED"        .        .     104 

THE  DEATH  OF  THE  ST.  JOSEPH'S  Ass       .    158 


INTR  OD  UCTION. 

Giovanni  Verga  was  born  at  Catania,  in 
Sicily,  in  1840.  His  youth  was  spent  in 
Florence  and  Milan.  He  afterwards  lived 
in  Catania* again,  where  he  had  an  opportu- 
nity of  studying  those  types  of  the  Sicilian 
peasantry  which  he  introduces  so  effectively, 
and  with  such  dramatic  suggestion,  into  many 
of  his  stories  and  sketches.  After  experienc- 
ing grievous  family  losses  he  returned  to 
Milan,  where  he  now  resides. 

In  "  EAmante  di  Gramigna  "  Verga  gives, 
in  the  form  of  a  letter  to  his  friend,  the  novel- 
ist, S.  Farina,  a  sort  of  brief  exposition  of  his 
literary  Creed.  Much  of  the  drama  is  left 
to  the  imagination  of  the  reader,  who  sees 
through  the  lines  the  action  hinted  at  in  a 
word  or  a  phrase.  Thus,  in  the  story  just 
mentioned,  no  definite  time-limit  is  assigned. 
Months  elapse,  but  only  a  passing  expression 


Vlll         UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

gives  the  due  to  it.  It  is  amazing  how  defi- 
nite is  the  idea  left  in  the  mind.  It  gives  all 
the  vividness  of  reality. 

"  Cavalleria  Rusticana,"  or  "  Rustic  Chiv- 
alry" has  been  known  all  over  the  world  by 
its  operatic  setting  by  Mascagni.  "  La  Lupa," 
which  is  scarcely  less  strong  and  vital,  has 
been  chosen  by  another  Italian  composer, 
Puccini,  as  the  subject  for  a  two-act  opera. 
These  two,  as  well  as  "  Eamante  di  Gra- 
migna"  and"  Jeli  il  Pastor e,"  illustrate  the 
deeper  passions  of  the  Sicilian  peasantry. 
Verges  sardonic  humor  is  shown  in  "  GK 
Orfani."  How  the  sordid  poverty  of  the  peo- 
ple stands  out  in  the  comparison  between  the 
sorrow  over  the  dying  ass,  and  the  utterly 
materialistic  grief  at  the  loss  of  the  pains- 
taking second  wife  ! 

"  La  Storia  del?  Asino  di  San  Giuseppe.," 
well  illustrates  the  average  treatment  of  the 
long-suffering,  long-eared  mules  and  asses 
which  make  so  picturesque  a  part  of  the  scen- 
ery of  Italian  and  Spanish  countries.  It  is  a 
document  for  the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

Cruelty  to  Animals,  and  well  deserves  to  be 
circulated  together  with  "Black  Beauty" 
What  pathos  in  the  sudden  transfer  of  the 
poor  little  beast  from  comparative  comfort,  at 
least  from  the  "  do  Ice  far  niente  "  of  its  foal- 
hood,  to  the  grim  realities  of  life,  and  its 
steady  and  fatal  decline  through  all  the  gamut 
of  wretchedness  and  degradation,  to  die  at 
last  under  the  weight  of  its  burdens !  And 
what  side  glances  on  the  condition  of  those  un- 
fortunate Sicilians  who  live  in  what  ought  to 
be  the  very  garden  and  Paradise  of  the  world, 
and  yet  are  so  oppressed  by  unregulated 
Nature  and  too  well  regulated  taxes  ! 

It  is  no  land  of  the  imagination  into  which 
we  are  brought  by  Verga ;  there  is  no  fasci- 
nating glamour  of  the  virtuous  triumphing 
after  many  vicissitudes,  and  seeing  at  last  the 
wicked  adequately  punished.  Here  it  is  grim 
reality.  The  poor  and  weak  go  relentlessly  to 
the  wall ;  innocence  and  humble  ignorance  are 
crushed  by  experienced  vice,  the  butterfly  is 
singed  by  the  flame ;  there  is  little  joy,  little 
peace.  The  fleckless  sky  shines  down  bril- 


X  UNDER   THE   SHADOW   OF    ETNA. 

liantly  on  wreck  of  home  and  fortune ;  the 
son  must  go  to  the  army,  and  the  daughter  to 
her  shame ;  the  father's  gray  hairs  must  be 
crowned  with  dishonor,  and  despair  must 
abide  in  the  mother's  breast.  But  yet  the 
stories  are  not  wholly  pessimistic,  nor  do  they 
give  an  utterly  hopeless  idea  of  the  Sicilian 
peasant.  He  shows  his  capabilities;  the 
woman  her  fiery  zeal  and  faithfulness,  even 
when  on  the  wrong  track.  You  see  that  edu- 
cation and  a  little  real  sympathy  might  make 
a  great  people  out  of  Verges  "  Turiddus " 
and  "Alfios."  There  are  dozens  of  others  of 
Verga's  short  sketches  which  would  repay 
translation,  but  the  little  collection  of  Sicilian 
pictures  here  presented  is  marked  by  quite 
wonderful  variety  and  contrast.  They  well 
illustrate  the  author's  genius  at  its  best. 

NATHAN  HASKELL  DOLE. 

"  Hedgecote,"  Glen  Road, 
Jamaica  Plain,  June  19,  1895. 


NOTE. 

Some  of  the  Italian  titles  applied  to  the 
characters  in  these  stories  are  retained.  They 
are  untranslatable ;  to  omit  them  takes  away 
from  the  Sicilian  flavor,  which  is  their  great 
charm.  Thus  the  words  compare  (con  and 
padre']  and  comare  (con  and  madre},  literally 
godfather  and  godmother,  are  used  in  almost 
the  same  way  as  "  uncle "  and  "  aunt "  in  our 
country  districts,  only  they  are  applied  to 
young  as  well  as  old ;  gna  is  a  contraction  for 
signora,  corresponding  somewhat  to  our  mis1 
for  "  Mrs."  Babbo  is  like  our  "  dad  "  or  "  dad- 
die."  Massaro  is  a  farmer ;  compagni  d^armi 
are  district  policemen,  not  quite  the  same  as 
gens  d^armes  ;  Bersegliere  is  the  member  of  a 
special  division  of  the  Italian  army. 


HOW  PEPPA  LOVED  GRAMIGNA. 


UNDER    THE    SHADOW 
OF    ETNA. 


HOW  PEPPA  LOVED  GRAMIGNA. 

DEAR  Farina,  this  is  not  a  story,  but 
the  outline  of  a  story. 
It  will  at  least  have  the  merit  of  being 
short,  and  of  having  fact  for  its  foundation ; 
it  is  a  human  document,  as  the  phrase  goes 
nowadays:  —  interesting  perhaps  for  you 
and  for  all  those  who  study  the  mighty 
book  of  the  heart.  I  will  tell  it  just  as  I 
found  it  among  the  country  paths,  and  in 
almost  the  same  simple  and  picturesque 
words  that  characterize  the  tales  of  the 
people ;  and  really  you  will  prefer  to  find 
yourself  facing  the  bare  and  unadulterated 


2  UNDER   THE    SHADOW   OF    ETNA. 

fact  rather  than  being  obliged  to  read  be- 
tween the  lines  of  the  book  through  the 
author's  spectacles. 

The  simple  truth  of  human  life  will 
always  make  us  thoughtful;  will  always 
have  the  effectiveness  of  reality,  of  gen- 
uine tears,  of  the  fevers  and  sensations 
that  have  inflicted  the  flesh.  The  mysteri- 
ous processes  whereby  conflicting  passions 
mingle,  develop  and  mature,  will  long 
constitute  the  chief  fascination  in  the 
study  of  that  psychological  phenomenon 
called  the  plot  of  a  story,  and  which 
modern  analysis  tries  to  follow  with  scien- 
tific care,  through  the  hidden  paths  of 
oftentimes  apparently  contradictory  com- 
plications. 

Of  the  one  that  I  am  going  to  tell  you 
to-day  I  shall  only  narrate  the  starting 
point  and  the  ending,  and  that  will  suffice 
for  you,  as,  perchance,  some  day  it  will 
suffice  for  all. 

We  replace  the  artistic  method  to  which 
we  owe  so  many  glorious  masterpieces  by 


HOW  PEPPA  LOVED  GRAMIGNA.      3 

a  different  method,  more  painstaking  and 
more  recondite;  we  willingly  sacrifice  the 
effect  of  the  catastrophe,  of  the  psycholog- 
ical result  as  it  was  seen  through  an 
almost  divine  intuition  by  the  great  artists 
of  the  past,  and  employ  instead  a  logical 
development,  inexorably  necessary,  less 
unexpected,  less  dramatic,  but  not  less 
fatalistic ;  we  are  more  modest,  if  not  more 
humble;  but  the  conquests  that  we  make 
with  our  psychological  verities  will  not  be 
any  less  useful  to  the  art  of  the  future. 
Supposing  such  perfection  in  the  study  of 
the  passions  should  be  ever  attained  that 
it  would  be  useless  to  go  further  in  the 
study  of  the  interior  man,  will  the  science 
of  the  human  heart,  the  fruit  of  the  new 
art,  so  far  and  so  universally  develop  all 
the  resources  of  the  imagination  that  in  the 
future  the  only  romances  written  will  be 
"  Various  Facts  ? " 

I  have  a  firm  belief  that  the  triumph  of 
the  Novel,  the  completest  and  most  human 
of  all  the  works  of  art,  will  increase  until 


4  UNDER   THE   SHADOW   OF    ETNA. 

the  affinity  and  cohesion  of  all  its  parts 
will  be  so  perfect,  that  the  process  of  its 
creation  will  remain  a  mystery  like  the 
development  of  human  passions;  I  have 
a  firm  belief  that  the  harmony  of  its  forms 
will  be  so  absolute,  the  sincerity  of  its 
reality  so  evident,  its  method  and  justifica- 
tion so  deeply  rooted,  that  the  artist's  hand 
will  remain  absolutely  invisible. 

Then  the  romance  will  seem  to  portray 
a  real  event,  and  the  work  of  art  will  ap- 
parently have  come  about  by  itself,  spon- 
taneously springing  into  being  and  matur- 
ing like  a  natural  fact,  without  any  point 
of  contact  with  its  author.  It  will  not  have 
preserved  in  its  living  form  any  stamp  of 
the  mind  in  which  it  originated,  any  shade 
of  the  eye  that  beheld  it,  any  trace  of  the 
lips  that  murmured  the  first  words  thereof 
as  the  creative  fiat ;  it  will  exist  by  its  own 
reason,  by  the  mere  fact  that  it  is  as  it 
should  be  and  must  be,  palpitating  with 
life  and  as  immutable  as  a  statue  of 
bronze,  the  author  of  which  has  had  the 


HOW  PEPPA  LOVED  GRAMIGNA.      5 

divine   courage   of   eclipsing    himself   and 
disappearing  in  his  immortal  work. 

A  few  years  ago,  down  by  the  Simeto, 
they  were  giving  chase  to  a  brigand,  a 
certain  Gramigna,*  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  a 
name  as  cursed  as  the  weed  that  bears  it. 
The  man  had  left  behind  him,  from  one 
end  of  the  province  to  the  other,  the  terror 
of  his  evil  reputation.  Carabineers,  com- 
pagni  d'armi,  and  cavalry-men  had  been 
on  his  track  for  two  months,  without  ever 
succeeding  in  putting  their  claws  on  him ; 
he  was  alone,  but  was  equal  to  ten,  and  the 
evil  plant  threatened  to  take  firm  root. 

Moreover  the  harvest-time  was  approach- 
ing, the  crops  already  covered  the  fields, 
the  ears  bent  over  and  were  calling  to  the 
reapers,  who  indeed  had  their  reaping- 
hooks  in  their  hands,  and  yet  not  a  single 
proprietor  dared  show  his  nose  over  the 
hedge  of  his  estate,  for  fear  of  meeting 
Gramigna,  who  might  be  stretched  out 

*Gramigna  means  dog's-tail-grass. 


6  UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

among  the  furrows  with  his  carbine  be- 
tween his  legs,  ready  to  blow  off  the  head 
of  the  first  person  who  should  venture  to 
meddle  with  his  affairs. 

Thus  the  complaints  were  general. 
Then  the  prefect  summoned  all  those 
gentlemen  of  the  district  —  carabineers 
and  companies  of  armed  men  and  told 
them  two  words  of  the  kind  that  makes 
men  prick  up  their  ears.  The  next  day 
an  earthquake  in  every  nook  and  corner : 
—  patrols,  squadrons,  scouts  for  every 
ditch  and  behind  every  wall ;  they  hunted 
him  by  day,  by  night,  on  foot,  on  horse- 
back, by  telegraph,  as  if  he  had  been  a 
wild  beast !  Gramigna  eluded  them  every 
time,  and  replied  with  shots  if  they  came 
too  close  on  his  track. 

In  the  fields,  in  the  villages,  among  the 
factories,  under  the  signs  of  country  tav- 
erns, wherever  people  met,  Gramigna  was 
the  only  topic  of  conversation,  —  that  wild 
chase,  that  desperate  flight.  The  cara- 
bineers' horses  returned  dead-tired;  the 


HOW    PEPPA    LOVED    GRAMIGNA.  7 

soldiers  threw  themselves  down  in  utter 
weariness  on  the  ground  when  they  got 
back  to  the  stables;  the  patrols  slept 
wherever  chance  offered;  Gramigna  alone 
was  never  tired,  never  slept,  kept  always 
on  the  wing,  climbed  down  precipices, 
slipped  through  the  harvest-fields,  crept 
on  all  fours  among  the  prickly  pear- 
trees,*  made  his  way  out  of  danger  like 
a  wolf  by  means  of  the  hidden  channels 
of  the  torrents. 

The  chief  argument  of  every  discourse 
at  the  cross  roads,  before  the  village  en- 
trances, was  the  devouring  thirst  from 
which  the  fugitive  must  suffer  in  the 
immense,  barren  plain,  under  the  June 
sun.  The  lazy  loungers  opened  wide  their 
eyes. 

Peppa,  one  of  the  prettiest  girls  of 
Licodia,  was  expecting  at  that  time  soon 
to  marry  compare  Finu,  called  "  Candela 
di  sego"  (the  tallow-candle),  who  had 
landed  property  and  a  bay  mule,  and  was 

*  Fichidindia,  also  called  Indian  figs. 


8  UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

a  tall  young  man,  handsome  as  the  sun, 
who  carried  the  standard  of  Santa  Mar- 
gherita  without  bending  his  back,  as 
though  he  were  a  pillar. 

Peppa's  mother  shed  tears  of  delight 
over  the  good  fortune  that  had  befallen 
her  daughter,  and  spent  her  time  in  look- 
ing over  and  over  the  bride's  effects  in  the 
trunk,  all  white  linen  and  of  the  nicest 
quality,  like  a  queen's,  and  earrings  that 
would  hang  down  to  the  shoulders  and 
gold  rings  for  all  the  ten  ringers  of  both 
hands;  more  money  than  Santa  Margher- 
ita  could  have  ever  had  —  and  so  they 
were  to  have  been  married  on  Santa 
Margherita's  day,  which  would  fall  in  June, 
after  the  hay  had  been  harvested. 

"Candela  di  Sego,"  on  his  way  back 
from  the  field,  used  every  evening  to 
leave  his  mule  at  Peppa's  front  door  and 
go  in  to  tell  how  the  crops  promised  to 
be  a  veritable  enchantment,  unless  Gra- 
migna  set  them  on  fire,  and  the  lattice  over 
against  the  bed  would  not  be  large  enough 


HOW  PEPPA  LOVED  GRAMIGNA.      9 

to  hold  all  the  grain,  and  that  it  seemed  to 
him  a  thousand  years  off  before  he  should 
carry  home  his  bride  on  the  crupper  of  his 
bay  mule. 

But  Peppa  one  fine  day  said  to  him,— 

"  Let  your  mule  have  a  rest,  for  I  do  not 
wish  to  get  married." 

The  poor  "  Candela  di  Sego  "  was  dumb- 
founded, and  the  old  mother  began  to 
tear  her  hair  when  she  heard  that  her 
daughter  had  refused  the  best  match  in 
the  village. 

"  I  am  in  love  with  Gramigna,"  said  the 
girl,  "  and  he  is  the  only  one  whom  I  will 
marry." 

"Ah!"  screamed  the  mamma,  and  she 
stormed  through  the  house,  with  her  gray 
hair  streaming  so  that  she  looked  like  a 
witch  — "  Ah  !  that  demon  has  been  here 
to  bewitch  my  daughter  !  " 

"No,"  replied  Peppa,  with  her  eyes 
flashing  like  a  sword — "no,  he  has  not 
been  here." 

"  Where  did  you  ever  see  him  ? " 


10          UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

"I  never  saw  him.  I  have  only  heard 
him  spoken  of.  But  I  feel  something 
here,  that  burns  me." 

The  report  spread  through  the  region, 
though  they  tried  to  keep  it  a  secret. 
The  women  and  girls  who  had  envied 
Peppa  the  prosperous  farming,  the  bay 
mule  and  the  handsome  youth  who  could 
bear  the  standard  of  Santa  Margherita 
without  bending  his  back,  went  around 
telling  all  sorts  of  unkind  stories:  how 
Gramigna  had  been  to  visit  her  one  night 
in  the  kitchen,  and  how  he  had  been  seen 
hiding  under  the  bed.  The  poor  mother 
burnt  a  lamp  for  the  souls  in  purgatory 
and  even  the  curato  went  to  Peppa's  house 
to  touch  her  heart  with  his  stole,  so  as  to 
drive  out  that  devil  of  a  Gramigna,  who 
had  got  possession  of  it. 

But  she  persisted  in  her  statement  that 
she  did  not  know  the  fellow  by  sight; 
but  that  she  had  seen  him  one  night  in  a 
dream,  and  the  following  morning  she  had 
got  up  with  her  lips  dry  as  if  shs  had 


HOW  PEPPA  LOVED  GRAMIGNA.     II 

herself  suffered  from  all  the  thirst  which 
they  reported  him  to  be  enduring. 

Then  the  old  woman  shut  her  up  in  the 
house,  so  that  she  might  not  hear  another 
word  about  Gramigna,  and  she  stopped  up 
all  the  cracks  of  the  door  with  images  of 
the  saints. 

Peppa  heard  all  that  was  said  in  the 
street  behind  the  sacred  images,  and  she 
turned  red  and  white,  as  if  the  devil  had 
kindled  all  his  fires  in  her  face. 

Finally  she  heard  it  said  that  Gramigna 
had  been  located  among  the  prickly  pear- 
trees  of  Palagonia. 

"  They  have  been  firing  for  two  hours," 
they  said.  "  He  has  killed  one  carabineer 
and  wounded  more  than  three  compagni 
tf.armi.  But  they  sent  back  such  a  hail- 
storm of  shots  that  he  must  have  been  hit ; 
there  was  a  pool  of  blood  where  he  had 
been." 

Then  Peppa  made  the  sign  of  the  cross 
before  the  old  mother's  pillow,  and  made 
her  e~cape  out  of  the  window. 


12  UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

Gramigna  was  in  the  prickly  pear-trees  of 
Palagonia,  and  they  were  not  able  to  find  him 
in  that  stronghold  of  rabbits.  He  was  rag- 
ged and  covered  with  blood,  pale  after  two 
days  of  fasting,  burning  with  fever,  and  he 
had  his  carbine  levelled.  When  he  saw  her 
coming,  resolute,  among  the  prickly  pear 
bushes,  in  the  dim  light  of  the  gloaming,  he 
hesitated  a  moment  whether  to  shoot  or 
not : — 

"  What  do  you  want  ?  "  he  demanded. 
"  What  are  you  coming  here  for  ? " 

"  I  am  coming  to  stay  with  you,"  said 
she,  looking  straight  at  him.  "  Are  you 
Gramigna  ?  " 

"  Yes,  I  am  Gramigna.  If  you  expect  to 
get  those  twenty  oncie*  of  reward,  you  are 
mightily  mistaken." 

"  No,  I  have  come  to  stay  with  you," 
she  replied. 

"  Go  away  ! "  said  he.  "  You  can't  stay 
with  me,  and  I  don't  want  anyone  with  me. 
If  you  are  after  money,  I  tell  you  you  have 

*  An  onza  is  $2.55. 


HOW  PEPPA  LOVED  GRAMIGNA.     13 

made  a  mistake.  I  haven't  any,  mind 
you  !  For  two  days  I  have  n't  had  even  a 
morsel  of  bread." 

"  I  can't  go  back  home  now,"  said  she ; 
"  the  place  is  all  full  of  soldiers." 

"  Go  away  !  What  is  that  to  me  ?  Each 
for  himself." 

As  she  was  turning  away  like  a  kicked 
dog,  Gramigna  called  to  her : 

"  Say,  go  and  get  me  a  jug  of  water, 
down  yonder  in  the  brook.  If  you  want 
to  stay  with  me,  you  must  risk  your  skin." 

Peppa  went  without  saying  a  word,  and 
when  Gramigna  heard  the  gunshots  he 
began  to  laugh  immoderately,  and  said  to 
himself :  "  That  was  meant  for  me  !  " 

But  when  he  saw  her  coming  back  a  few 
minutes  later  with  the  jug  in  her  hand, 
pale  and  bleeding,  he  said,  before  he 
sprang  forward  to  snatch  the  jug  from 
her,  and  then  when  he  had  drunk  till  it 
seemed  as  if  he  had  no  more  breath : 

"  You  escaped,  did  you  ?  How  did  you 
doit?" 


14          UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

"The  soldiers  were  on  the  other  side, 
and  there  was  a  thick  bush  on  this." 

"  But  they  put  a  bullet  through  your 
skin.  There  's  blood  on  your  dress." 

"Yes." 

"  Where  were  you  hit  ? " 

"  In  the  shoulder." 

"  That 's  nothing.     You  can  walk." 

So  he  allowed  her  to  stay  with  him. 
She  followed  him,  all  in  rags,  shoeless, 
suffering  from  the  fever  caused  by  the 
wound,  and  yet  she  went  foraging  to 
procure  for  him  a  jug  of  water  or  a  piece 
of  bread,  and  if  she  came  back  with  empty 
hands,  escaping  through  the  gunshots,  her 
lover,  devoured  by  hunger  and  thirst, 
would  beat  her.  At  last  one  night  when 
the  moon  was  shining  in  the  prickly  pears, 
Gramigna  said  to  her,  — 

"  They  are  on  us." 

And  he  obliged  her  to  stand  with  her 
back  to  the  rock  far  in  the  crevice ;  then 
he  fled  in  another  direction.  Among  the 
bushes  were  heard  the  frequent  reports  of 


HOW  PEPPA  LOVED  GRAMIGNA.     15 

the  musketry,  and  the  shadows  were  cut 
here  and  there  by  quick  bright  flashes. 
Suddenly  Peppa  heard  the  sound  of  steps 
near  her  and  saw  Gramigna  coming  back, 
dragging  along  a  broken  leg.  He  leaned 
against  the  prickly  pear  bushes  to  reload 
his  carbine : 

"  It 's  all  over,"  he  said  to  her.  "  Now 
they  '11  take  me." 

And  what  froze  the  blood  in  her  veins 
more  than  anything  else  was  the  light  that 
shone  in  his  eyes,  as  if  he  were  a  madman. 

Then  when  he  fell  on  the  dry  branches 
like  a  log  of  wood,  the  soldiers  were  on 
him  in  an  instant. 

The  following  day  they  dragged  him 
through  the  village  street  on  a  cart,  all  in 
rags  and  covered  with  blood.  The  people 
who  had  crowded  in  to  look  at  him  began 
to  laugh  when  they  saw  how  small  he  was, 
how  pale  and  ugly  like  a  punchinello. 
And  it  was  for  him  that  Peppa  had  de- 
serted compare  Finu,  the  "Candela  cli 
Sego!" 


1 6          UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

The  poor  "  Candela  di  Sego  "  went  and 
hid  from  sight,  as  if  it  behoved  him  to  be 
ashamed,  and  Peppa  was  led  off,  hand- 
cuffed by  soldiers,  as  if  she  also  were  a 
thief,  —  she  who  had  as  much  gold  as 
Santa  Margherita !  Her  poor  mother  was 
obliged  to  sell  all  the  white  linen  stored  in 
her  trunk,  and  the  gold  earrings  and  the 
rings  for  the  ten  fingers,  so  as  to  pay  the 
lawyers  who  defended  her  daughter  and 
bring  the  girl  home  again,  —  poor,  ill,  in 
shame,  ugly  as  Gramigna,  and  with  Gra- 
migna's  child  in  her  arms. 

But  when  at  the  end  of  the  trial  her 
daughter  was  restored  to  her,  the  poor  old 
soul  recited  an  "  Ave  Maria  "  in  the  bare 
and  already  dark  jail  among  the  soldiers 
of  the  guard;  it  seemed  to  her  that  they 
had  given  her  back  a  treasure  when  she 
had  nothing  else  in  the  world,  and  she 
wept  like  a  fountain  at  this  consolation. 

Peppa  on  the  other  hand  seemed  to 
have  no  tears  to  shed  any  more,  and  said 
nothing,  and  disappeared  from  sight ;  yet 


HOW  PEPPA  LOVED  GRAMIGNA.     17 

the  two  women  went  out  every  day  to  get 
their  living  by  their  own  hands.  People 
declared  that  Peppa  had  taken  up  "the 
trade  "  in  the  woods,  and  went  on  robbing 
expeditions  at  night.  The  truth  of  the 
matter  was  that  she  hid  herself  in  the 
kitchen  like  a  wild  beast  in  its  lair,  and  it 
was  only  when  her  old  mother  was  dead  of 
her  privations,  and  the  house  had  to  be 
sold,  that  she  left  it. 

"See  here!"  said  "  Candela  di  Sego," 
who  was  as  much  in  love  with  her  as  ever, 
"  I  could  smash  your  head  with  two  stones 
for  the  evil  you  have  brought  on  yourself 
and  others." 

"  It 's  true,"  replied  Peppa,  "  I  know  it. 
It  was  God's  will." 

After  her  house  and  those  few  wretched 
pieces  of  furniture  that  were  left  to  her 
were  sold,  she  went  away  from  the  town 
by  night,  just  as  she  had  done  before, 
without  turning  round  to  look  at  the  roof 
under  which  she  had  slept  so  long,  and 
she  went  to  do  God's  will  in  the  city,  with 


1 8          UNDER   THE   SHADOW   OF    ETNA. 

her  baby  boy,  near  the  prison  in  which 
Gramigna  was  incarcerated.  She  could 
see  nothing  else  besides  the  black  grated 
windows  along  the  mighty  silent  facade, 
and  the  sentinels  drove  her  away  if  she 
stopped  to  look  where  he  might  be.  At 
last  she  was  told  that  he  had  not  been 
there  for  some  time,  that  he  had  been 
taken  away  to  the  other  side  of  the  sea, 
manacled,  and  with  a  basket  fastened  over 
his  shoulder. 

She  said  nothing.  She  did  not  go 
away ;  for  she  knew  not  where  to  go,  and 
she  had  nothing  more  to  expect.  She 
made  a  shift  to  live,  doing  chores  for  the 
soldiers,  for  the  prisoners,  as  if  she  herself 
made  a  part  of  that  black  and  silent  build- 
ing; and  she  felt  for  the  carabineers  who 
had  taken  Gramigna  in  the  thicket  of 
prickly  pears,  and  who  had  broken  his 
leg  with  their  shots,  a  sort  of  respectful 
tenderness,  as  it  were  a  brute  admiration 
of  force. 

On  holidays,  when  she  saw  them  with 


HOW  PEPPA  LOVED  GRAMIGNA.     19 

their  plumes  and  their  glittering  epaulettes, 
stiff  and  erect  in  their  gala  uniforms,  she 
devoured  them  with  her  eyes,  and  she  was 
always  at  the  barracks  cleaning  the  big 
rooms  and  polishing  the  boots,  so  that  they 
called  her  "  The  Carabineers'  dish-cloth/' 

Only  when  she  saw  them  load  their  guns 
at  nightfall  and  march  out,  two  and  two, 
with  their  trousers  turned  up,  revolver  in 
belt,  and  when  they  mounted  horse  under 
the  light  that  made  the  muskets  flash,  and 
heard  the  clattering  of  the  horses'  feet 
dying  away  in  the  darkness  and  the  jing- 
ling of  sabres,  she  always  grew  pale,  and 
while  she  was  closing  the  door  of  the 
stable  she  shivered ;  and  when  her  young- 
ster played  with  the  other  urchins  on  the 
glacis  before  the  prison,  running  among 
the  legs  of  the  soldiers,  and  the  urchins 
called  him  "  Gramigna's  son,  Gramigna's 
son,"  she  flew  into  a  rage  and  chased  them 
away  with  stones. 


JELI,  THE  SHEPHERD. 


I 


JELT,    THE    SHEPHERD. 


JELI,  THE  SHEPHERD. 

JELI,  who  had  charge  of  the  horses,  was 
thirteen  when  he  first  became  ac- 
quainted with  the  young  gentleman,  Don 
Alfonso.  But  he  was  so  small  that  he  did 
not  come  up  to  the  belly  of  the  old  mare 
Bianca,  who  carried  the  big  bell  for  the 
drove.  Wherever  his  animals  wandered 
for  their  pasturage,  here  and  there,  on  the 
mountains  and  down  in  the  plain,  he  was 
always  to  be  found  erect  and  motionless  on 
some  eminence  or  squatting  on  some  big 
rock. 

His  friend,  Don  Alfonso,  while  he  was 
at  his  country  seat,  went  to  find  him  all 
the  days  that  God  sent  to  Tebidi,  and 
shared  with  him  his  piece  of  chocolate 
and  shepherd's  barley-bread  and  the  fruit 
stolen  in  the  neighborhood. 

At  first  Jeli  called  the  young  nobleman 
23 


24          UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

eccelknza  —  your  excellence  —  as  is  the  cus- 
tom in  Sicily,  but  after  they  had  had  one 
good  quarrel  their  friendship  was  estab- 
lished on  a  solid  basis.  Jeli  taught  his 
friend  how  to  climb  up  to  the  magpies' 
nests  on  the  tip-top  of  the  walnut-trees, 
higher  than  the  campanile  of  Licodia,  to 
knock  down  a  sparrow  on  the  wing  with  a 
stone,  and  to  mount  with  one  spring  on  the 
bare  backs  of  his  half-wild  animals,  seizing 
by  the  mane  the  first  that  came  within 
reach,  without  being  frightened  by  the 
wrathful  whinny  ings  and  the  desperate 
leaps  of  the  untrained  colts. 

Ah !  the  delightful  gallops  across  the 
mown  fields  with  their  hair  flying  in  the 
wind ;  the  lovely  April  days  when  the  wind 
billowed  the  green  grass  and  the  horses 
neighed  in  the  pastures;  the  glorious 
summer  noons  when  the  whitening  fields 
lay  silent  under  the  cloudy  sky,  and  the 
crickets  crackled  among  the  clods  as 
though  the  stubble  were  on  fire;  the 
bright  wintry  sky  seen  through  the  naked 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  25 

branches  of  the  almond  trees  shivering 
under  the  north  wind,  and  the  narrow 
path  sounding  frozen  under  the  horses' 
hoofs,  and  the  larks  singing  on  high  in 
the  warmth,  in  the  azure;  the  delicious 
summer  afternoons  that  passed  slowly, 
slowly,  like  the  clouds;  the  sweet  odor  of 
the  hay  in  which  they  plunged  their  el- 
bows, and  the  melancholy  humming  of  the 
evening  insects,  and  those  two  notes  of 
Jeli's  zufolo  or  whistle,  always  the  same  — 
iuh  iuh !  —  making  one  think  of  distant 
things,  of  the  feast  of  Saint  John,  of 
Christmas  eve,  of  the  dawn  of  the  scam- 
pagnata*  of  all  those  great  events  of  the 
past  which  seemed  sad,  so  distant  were 
they,  and  made  you  look  up  with  mois- 
tened eyes  as  if  all  the  stars  that  were 
kindling  in  heaven  poured  showers  into 
your  heart  and  made  it  overflow ! 

Jeli,  himself,  did  not  suffer  from  any 
such  melancholy ;  he  squatted  on  the  side 
of  the  hill  with  puffed-out  cheeks,  quite 

*  Pic-nic  day. 


26          UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

intent  on  sounding  his  iuh !  iuh !  iuh ! 
Then  he  would  bring  together  his  drove 
by  dint  of  shouts  and  stones,  and  drive 
them  into  the  stable  beyond  the  "  poggio 
alia  Croce."  * 

Out  of  breath  he  would  mount  the  hill- 
side beyond  the  valley,  and  sometimes 
shout  to  his  friend  Alfonso,  — 

"  Call  the  dog !  ohe  !  Call  the  dog ! " 
or  "  Fling  a  good-sized  stone  at  the  bay 
who's  got  the  better  of  me  and  is  slowly 
wandering  away,  dallying  among  the 
bushes  of  the  valley,"  or  "To-morrow 
bring  me  a  big  needle  — one  of  gna  Lia's." 

He  could  do  all  sorts  of  things  with  the 
needle,  and  he  had  a  heap  of  odds  and 
ends  in  his  canvas  bag,  in  case  of  need,  to 
mend  his  trousers  or  the  sleeves  of  his 
jacket;  he  also  knew  how  to  braid  horse- 
hairs, and  with  the  clay  in  the  valley  he 
used  to  wash  out  his  own  handkerchief 
which  he  wore  around  his  neck  when  it 
was  cold.  In  fact,  provided  he  had  his 

*  Hill  with  a  cross  on  it. 


JELI,    THE   SHEPHERD.  27 

bag  with  him,  he  needed  nothing  in  the 
world,  whether  he  were  in  the  woods  of 
Resecone,  or  lost  in  the  depths  of  the  plain 
of  Caltagirone.  Gna  Lia  used  to  say,— 

"  Do  you  see  Jeli,  the  shepherd  ?  He  is 
always  alone  in  the  fields,  as  if  he  himself 
had  been  born  a  colt,  and  that's  why  he 
knows  how  to  make  the  cross  with  his  two 
hands ! " * 

Indeed,  it  is  true  that  Jeli  needed  nothing, 
but  everybody  connected  with  the  estate 
would  have  gladly  helped  him  in  any  way 
because  he  was  a  serviceable  lad,  and  there 
was  always  a  chance  of  getting  something 
from  him.  Gna  Lia  baked  bread  for  him 
out  of  neighborly  love,  and  he  showed  his 
gratitude  by  making  her  osier  baskets  for 
her  eggs,  reels  of  reeds,  and  other  little 
things. 

"  Let  us  do  as  his  animals  do,"  said  gna 
Lia,  "they  scratch  each  other's  backs." 

At  Tebidi  every  one  had  known  him 
since  he  was  a  baby;  there  was  no  time 

*  /.  e.,  a  lusus  nature?,  abnormal  I 


28          UNDER   THE    SHADOW   OF    ETNA. 

when  he  wasn't  seen  among  the  tails  of 
the  horses  pasturing  in  the  "field  of  the 
lettighiere"  and  he  had  grown  up,  so  to 
speak,  under  their  eyes,  though  really  no 
one  ever  saw  him  very  much,  for  he  was 
forever  here  and  there,  roaming  about  with 
his  drove. 

"  He  had  rained  down  from  heaven  and 
the  earth  had  taken  him  up,"  as  the  proverb 
has  it ;  he  was  just  one  of  those  who  have 
neither  home  nor  relatives.  His  mamma 
was  out  at  service  at  Vizzini,  and  he  never 
saw  her  more  than  once  a  year  when  he 
went  with  his  colts  to  the  fair  of  San  Gio- 
vanni ;  and  the  day  that  she  died  they  came 
to  call  him  —  it  was  one  Saturday  evening 
—  and  on  the  following  Monday  Jeli  was 
back  with  his  drove,  so  that  the  contadino 
who  had  taken  his  place  in  looking  after 
the  horses  might  not  lose  a  day's  work; 
but  the  poor  lad  came  back  so  upset  that 
he  kept  letting  the  colts  get  into  the 
ploughed  land. 

"  Ohe  !  Jeli ! "  cried  massaro  Agrippino, 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  29 

from  the  threshing-floor.  "You  want  to 
have  a  taste  of  the  rope's  end,  do  you,  you 
son  of  a  dog  ? " 

Jeli  started  to  run  after  his  stray  colts, 
and  drove  them  mechanically  toward  the 
hill ;  but  always  before  his  eyes  he  saw  his 
mamma  with  her  head  done  up  in  the  white 
handkerchief.  She  would  never  speak  to 
him  more ! 

His  father  was  a  cow-herd  at  Ragoleti, 
beyond  Licodia,  "  where  the  malaria  could 
be  harvested,"  as  the  peasants  of  that 
region  say,  meaning  to  signify  its  density  ; 
but  in  the  malarious  lands  the  pasturage  is 
fat  and  cows  do  not  catch  the  fever.  Jeli 
for  that  reason  stayed  in  the  fields  all  the 
year  long,  either  at  Don  Ferrante's,  or  in 
the  enclosure  of  la  Commenda,  or  in  the 
valley  of  il  Jacitano,  and  the  hunters  or 
travellers  who  took  cross-cut  over  the  coun- 
try saw  him  in  this  place  or  in  that,  like  a 
dog  without  a  master. 

He  did  not  suffer  from  this  state  of  things  • 
because  he  was  accustomed  to  be  with  his 


30          UNDER   THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

horses,  as  they  moved  about  leisurely  nib- 
bling the  clover,  and  with  the  birds  who 
flew  around  him  in  bevies,  while  the  sun 
accomplished  his  daily  journey,  slowly, 
slowly,  until  the  shadows  grew  long  and 
then  vanished;  he  had  time  to  watch  the 
clouds  pile  up  on  the  horizon,  one  behind 
another,  and  imagine  them  mountains  and 
valleys ;  he  knew  how  the  wind  blew  when 
it  brought  thunder-showers,  and  what  color 
the  clouds  were  when  it  was  going  to  snow. 
Everything  had  its  aspect  and  significance, 
and  his  eyes  and  ears  were  kept  on  the 
alert  all  day  long.  In  the  same  way  when 
toward  sunset  the  young  herdsman  began 
to  play  his  alder-whistle,  the  brown  mare 
would  come  up,  lazily  cropping  the  clover, 
and  also  stand  looking  with  great,  pensive 
eyes. 

The  only  place  where  he  suffered  a  little 
from  melancholy  was  in  the  desert  lands  of 
Passanitello,  where  not  a  grass-blade  or  a 
shrub  is  to  be  seen,  and  during  the  hot 
months  not  a  bird  flies.  The  horses  there 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  31 

would  cluster  together  with  drooping  heads 
to  shade  one  another,  and  during  the  long 
days  of  the  threshing  that  mighty  silent 
radiance  rained  down  without  mitigation 
for  sixteen  hours.  Wherever  pasturage 
was  abundant  and  the  horses  liked  to  loiter, 
the  lad  busied  himself  with  something 
else  —  he  would  make  reed-cages  for  the 
crickets,  or  carved  pipes  and  little  baskets 
of  bulrushes ;  with  four  branches  he  could 
set  up  a  shelter  for  himself  when  the  North 
wind  drove  the  long  lines  of  crows  through 
the  valley,  or,  when  the  cicadae  fluttered 
their  wings  in  the  broiling  sun  over  the 
parched  stubble ;  he  would  roast  acorns  in 
the  coals  of  his  sumach  fire  and  imagine 
they  were  chestnuts,  or  toast  his  thick  slice 
of  bread  when  it  began  to  grow  musty,  be- 
cause, when  he  was  at  Passanitello  in  winter, 
the  roads  were  so  bad  that  sometimes  a 
fortnight  would  elapse  without  a  single 
soul  passing. 

Don  Alfonso,  who  had  been  kept  in  cot- 
ton by  his  parents,  envied  his  friend  Jeli 


32          UNDER   THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

the  canvas  bag  in  which  he  stored  his 
effects, —  his  bread,  his  onions,  his  bottle 
of  wine,  his  neckerchief  for  cold  weather, 
his  little  hoard  of  rags  and  thread  and 
needles,  his  little  tin  food-box  and  his  flint ; 
he  envied  him  especially  that  superb  spotted 
mare,  that  animal  with  rough  forelock  and 
wicked  eyes,  swelling  her  indignant  nostrils 
like  a  fierce  mastiff  when  anyone  tried  to 
mount  her.  Sometimes  she  would  allow 
Jeli  to  get  on  her  back  and  scratch  her 
ears ;  she  was  jealous  of  him,  and  would 
come  smelling  round  to  find  out  what  he 
was  saying. 

"  Let  the  vajata  be,"  Jeli  would  say, 
"She  isn't  ugly,  but  she  doesn't  know 
you." 

After  Scordu  from  Bucchiere  took  away 
the  Calabrian  which  he  had  bought  at  San 
Giovanni's  Fair,  under  agreement  to  keep 
her  in  the  drove  until  vintage  time,  Zaino, 
the  bay  colt,  orphaned,  refused  to  be  com- 
forted and  galloped  over  the  mountain 
precipices  with  long,  lamenting  neighings, 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  33 

and  its  nose  in  the  wind.  Jeli  ran  behind 
it,  calling  to  it  with  loud  shouts,  and  the 
colt  paused  to  listen  with  its  head  in  the 
air,  and  its  ears  pricking  back  and  forth, 
and  switching  its  flanks  with  its  tail. 

"  It 's  because  they  have  carried  off  his 
mother,  and  he  does  n't  know  what  to  make 
of  it,"  observed  the  herdsman.  "  Now  we 
must  keep  him  in  sight,  for  he  would  be 
capable  of  jumping  over  the  precipice. 
That  was  the  way  I  felt  when  my  mamma 
died;  I  couldn't  see  with  my  eyes." 

Then,  after  the  colt  began  to  try  the 
clover  and  to  make  believe  bite :  — 

"  See !  he  is  gradually  beginning  to  for- 
get ...  But  this  one  will  be  sold,  too. 
Horses  are  made  to  be  sold,  just  as  lambs 
are  born  to  go  to  the  butcher,  and  the 
clouds  to  bring  the  rain.  Only  the  birds 
have  nothing  else  to  do  but  sing  and  fly  all 
day." 

These  ideas  did  not  come  to  him  clear 
cut  and  in  sequence  one  after  the  other, 
for  it  was  rarely  that  he  had  anyone  to  talk 


34         UNDER   THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

with,  and,  therefore,  he  had  no  cause  for 
haste  in  starting  them  up  and  disentangling 
them  in  the  depths  of  his  brain,  where  he 
was  accustomed  to  let  them  sprout  and 
grow  gradually,  as  the  twigs  burgeon  under 
the  sun. 

"  Even  the  birds,"  he  added,  "  have  to 
hunt  for  food,  and  when  the  snow  covers 
the  ground  they  perish." 

Then  he  pondered  for  a  moment, — "  You 
are  like  the  birds ;  but  when  winter  comes 
you  can  sit  by  the  fire  and  do  nothing." 

But  Don  Alfonso  replied  that  he  too 
went  to  school  and  had  to  study.  Jeli 
opened  his  eyes  wide  and  was  all  ears, 
while  the  signorino  began  to  read,  and  he 
looked  at  the  book  and  at  the  young  master 
himself  with  a  suspicious  air,  listening  with 
that  slight  winking  of  the  eyelids  which 
indicates  intensity  of  attention  in  beasts 
little  accustomed  to  mankind. 

He  was  delighted  with  the  poetry  that 
caressed  his  ears  with  the  harmony  of  an 
incomprehensible  song,  and  occasionally  he 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  35 

frowned,  drew  up  his  chin,  and  made  it  evi- 
dent that  a  great  mental  operation  was  tak- 
ing place  within  him  ;  then  he  nodded  "  yes, 
yes,"  with  a  crafty  smile,  and  scratched 
his  head.  Then  when  the  signorino  started 
to  write  so  as  to  show  how  many  things 
he  knew  how  to  do,  Jeli  could  have  staid 
whole  days  watching  him  ;  and  suddenly  he 
would  look  round  suspiciously.  He  could 
not  be  persuaded  that  the  words  that  were 
said  either  by  him  or  by  Don  Alfonso  could 
possibly  be  repeated  on  paper,  and  still 
more  —  those  things  that  had  not  proceeded 
from  their  mouths,  and  he  ended  with  that 
shrewd  smile. 

Every  new  idea  which  knocked  for  en- 
trance at  his  head  made  him  suspicious ;  he 
seemed  to  try  it  with  the  wild  diffidence  of 
his  vajata.  But  he  expressed  no  wonder  at 
anything  in  the  world  ;  he  might  have  been 
told  that  in  cities  horses  rode  in  carriages, 
—  he  would  have  kept  on  that  mask  of 
oriental  indifference  which  is  the  dignity  of 
a  Sicilian  peasant.  It  would  seem  as  if  he 


36          UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

intrenched  himself  instinctively  in  his  ignor- 
ance, as  if  it  were  the  force  of  poverty. 
Every  time  that  he  remained  short  of  argu- 
ments he  would  repeat, — 

"  I  do  not  know  at  all.  I  am  poor/'  with 
that  obstinate  smile  that  was  intended  to 
be  shrewd. 

He  had  asked  his  friend  Alfonso  to 
write  for  him  the  name  of  Mara  on  a  piece 
of  paper  that  he  had  found  somewhere,  be- 
cause it  was  his  habit  to  pick  up  whatever 
he  saw  lying  about  and  put  into  his  packet 
of  odds  and  ends.  One  day,  after  being 
rather  quiet  and  looking  round  anxiously, 
he  said,  very  gravely,  — 

"  I  'm  in  love  with  some  one." 

Alfonso,  though  he  knew  how  to  read, 
opened  his  eyes  in  astonishment. 

"Yes,"  continued  Jeli,  " massaro  Agrip- 
pino's  daughter  Mara,  who  used  to  be  here ; 
but  now  they're  at  Marineo,  in  that  great 
house  in  the  plain  that  you  can  see  from 
the  t  plain  of  the  lettighiere '  yonder." 

*'  O  you  're  going  to  get  married,  then  ? " 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  37 

"  Yes,  when  I  'm  grown  up  and  have  six 
onze  a  year  wages.  Mara  knows  nothing 
about  it." 

"  Why,  have  n't  you  told  her  ?  " 

Jeli  shook  his  head  and  reflected.  Then 
he  opened  his  hoard  and  unfolded  the 
paper  which  bore  the  written  name. 

"  It  must  be  that  it  says  *  Mara ' ;  Don 
Gesualdo,  the  campiere?  has  read  it;  and 
fra  Cola,  when  he  came  down  here  begging 
for  beans." 

"  He  who  knows  how  to  write,"  he  went 
on  saying,  "  is  like  one  who  preserves  words 
in  his  tinder-box  and  can  carry  them  in  his 
pocket,  and  even  send  them  this  way  and 
that." 

"  Now  what  are  you  going  to  do  with 
that  piece  of  paper  that  you  can't  read  ? " 
asked  Alfonso. 

Jeli  shrugged  his  shoulders,  but  kept  on 
carefully  folding  his  written  leaf  to  put 
away  in  his  heap  of  odds  and  ends. 

He  had  known  la  Mara  ever  since  she 

*  Field  guard. 


38          UNDER   THE   SHADOW   OF    ETNA. 

was  a  little  girl.  Their  acquaintance  had 
begun  in  a  pitched  battle  once  when  they 
met  down  in  the  valley,  both  of  them  after 
blackberries.  The  little  girl,  knowing  that 
she  was  "within  her  rights,"  had  seized 
Jeli  by  the  neck  as  if  he  were  a  thief. 
For  awhile  they  exchanged  blows  on  the 
slope  —  "You  one,  I  one,"  —  as  the  cooper 
does  on  the  hoops  of  his  barrels ;  but  when 
they  got  tired  of  it  they  gradually  calmed 
down,  though  they  still  had  each  other  by 
the  hair. 

"  Who  are  you  ?  "  demanded  Mara. 

And  when  Jeli  with  less  breeding  re- 
fused to  tell  who  he  was,  — 

"  I  am  Mara,  the  daughter  of  Massaro 
Agrippino,  who  is  the  keeper  of  all  these 
fields  here." 

Jeli  then  let  his  grasp  relax,  and  the 
little  girl  set  to  work  to  pick  up  the  black- 
berries that  had  fallen  during  their  strug- 
gle, now  and  then  glancing  with  curiosity 
at  her  antagonist. 

"  Just  beyond  the  bridge,  on  the  edge  of 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  39 

the  orchard,  there  are  lots  of  big  berries," 
suggested  the  little  maid,  "  and  the  hens 
are  eating  them." 

Jeli  meantime  was  creeping  off  stealthily, 
and  Mara,  after  standing  on  tip-toe  to 
watch  him  disappearing  in  the  grove, 
turned  her  back  and  ran  home  as  fast  as 
her  legs  would  carry  her. 

But  from  that  day  forth  they  began  to 
be  friends.  Mara  went  with  her  hemp  to 
spin  on  to  the  parapet  of  the  little  bridge, 
and  Jeli  would  slowly  drive  his  cattle 
toward  the  slopes  of  the  poggio  del  Bandito. 
At  first  he  kept  at  a  distance,  roving 
around  and  looking  from  afar,  with  suspi- 
cion in  his  face,  but  he  kept  gradually 
edging  near,  with  the  watchful  gait  of  a 
dog  used  to  stones.  When  at  last  he 
joined  her,  they  remained  long  hours  with- 
out speaking  a  word,  Jeli  attentively  watch- 
ing the  intricate  work  of  the  stockings 
which  Mara's  mamma  had  hung  round  her 
neck,  or  she  looking  on  while  he  carved 
his  pretty  zig-zags  on  the  almond  sticks. 


40          UNDER   THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

Then  they  would  separate,  he  going  one 
way,  she  the  other,  without  saying  a  word, 
and  the  little  girl  as  soon  as  she  was  in 
sight  of  her  house  would  start  to  run,  kick- 
ing high  her  petticoat  with  her  little  red 
legs. 

When  the  prickly  pears  were  ripe  they 
would  settle  down  in  the  thick  of  the  bushes, 
peeling  the  figs  all  the  live-long  day.  They 
would  wander  together  under  the  imme- 
morial walnuts,  and  Jeli  would  beat  so 
many  of  the  walnuts  that  they  would 
shower  down  thick  as  hail,  and  the  girl 
would  tire  herself  out  picking  them  up  with 
jubilant  shouts  —  more  than  she  could 
carry;  and  then  she  would  scamper  away 
nimbly,  holding  up  the  two  corners  of  her 
apron,  bobbing  like  a  little  old  woman. 

During  the  winter  time,  Mara  dared  not 
put  her  nose  out  of  doors,  it  was  so  cold. 
Sometimes  toward  evening  could  be  seen 
the  smoke  of  Jeli's  fires  of  sumach  wood, 
which  he  built  on  the  Piano  del  lettighiere,  or 
on  the  Poggio  di  Macca,  so  as  not  to  perish 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  41 

of  the  cold,  like  the  tomtits  which  he  some- 
times found  in  the  morning  behind  some 
rock,  or  in  the  shelter  of  a  clod.  The 
horses  also  found  pleasure  in  dangling 
their  tails  around  the  fire,  and  they  would 
cuddle  close  together  so  as  to  be  warmer. 

In  March,  the  larks  came  back  to  the 
plain,  the  sparrows  to  the  roofs,  the  leaves 
and  the  nests  to  the  hedges.  Mara  took 
up  her  habit  of  going  about  with  Jeli  in 
the  soft  grass  among  the  flowering  bushes 
under  the  still  bare  trees  which  were  just 
beginning  to  show  tender  points  of  green. 
Jeli  would  make  his  way  through  the 
brambles  like  a  bloodhound,  so  as  to  dis- 
cover the  nests  of  the  blackbirds  which 
would  look  up  to  him  in  astonishment  with 
their  little  keen  eyes;  the  two  children 
would  carry,  cuddled  in  their  hearts,  little 
wee  rabbits  just  born,  almost  without  fur, 
but  already  quick  to  move  their  long  ears. 

They  would  scour  the  fields  in  pursuit 
of  the  drove  of  horses,  entering  the  plains 
behind  the  hay-gatherers,  step  for  step 


42  UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

with  the  herd,  pausing  every  time  that  a 
mare  stopped  to  pluck  a  mouthful  of  grass. 
At  evening,  when  they  got  back  to  the 
bridge,  they  separated,  he  going  in  one 
direction,  she  in  another,  without  saying 
good-by. 

Thus  they  passed  the  whole  summer. 
When  the  sun  began  to  go  down  behind 
the  Poggio  alia  Croce,  the  robin  red-breasts 
also  went  toward  the  mountain,  as  it  grew 
dark,  following  the  light  among  the  clumps 
of  prickly  pears.  The  crickets  and  cicadae 
were  no  longer  heard,  and  at  that  hour  a 
great  melancholy  spread  through  the  air. 

About  that  time,  to  Jeli's  tumble-down 
hovel  came  his  father,  the  cowherd,  who 
had  caught  the  malaria  at  Ragoleti,  and 
could  scarcely  dismount  from  the  ass  which 
brought  him.  Jeli  started  a  fire  quickly, 
and  ran  to  "  the  hall "  for  some  hen's  eggs. 

"  Put  a  little  straw  down  in  front  of  the 
fire  as  soon  as  you  can,"  said  his  father, 
"  for  I  feel  the  fever  returning." 

The  chill  of  the  fever  was  so  severe  that 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  43 

compare  Menu  buried  under  his  thick 
cloak,  the  saddle-bags  of  the  ass  and  Jeli's 
sacks  shook  as  the  leaves  do  in  Novem- 
ber, in  spite  of  the  great  blaze  of  branches 
which  made  his  face  white  as  a  corpse. 

The  contadini  of  the  farm  came  to  ask 
him, — 

"How  do  you  think  you  feel,  compare 
Menu?" 

The  poor  man  could  only  answer  with 
a  whine  like  a  sucking  puppy. 

"  It 's  a  kind  of  malaria  that  kills  more 
surely  than  a  rifle  bullet,"  said  his  friends, 
as  they  warmed  their  hands  at  the  fire. 

The  doctor  was  called,  but  it  was  money 
thrown  away,  because  the  disease  is  one  of 
those  clear  and  evident  ones  which  even  a 
boy  would  know  how  to  cure ;  unless  the 
fever  happens  to  be  so  severe  that  it  will 
kill  at  any  rate,  a  little  quinine  cures  it 
quickly. 

Compare  Menu  spent  the  eyes  of  his 
head  for  quinine  but  it  was  as  good  as 
thrown  down  a  well. 


44          UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

"  Take  a  good  dose  of  ecalibbiso  tea, 
which  does  not  cost  anything,"  suggested 
massaro  Agrippino,  u  and  if  it  does  n't 
work  as  well  as  quinine  it  does  n't  ruin  you 
by  its  cost." 

So  he  took  the  decoction  of  eucaliptus, 
but  the  fever  returned  all  the  same,  and 
even  more  violently.  Jeli  attended  to  his 
father  the  best  he  knew  how.  Every  morn- 
ing before  he  went  off  with  his  colts,  he  left 
him  his  medicine  all  prepared  in  a  drink- 
ing cup,  his  bundle  of  dry  branches  within 
reach,  his  eggs  in  the  hot  ashes,  and  he 
came  back  as  early  as  he  could  in  the 
afternoon  with  more  wood  for  the  night, 
and  the  bottle  of  wine  and  a  little  piece  of 
mutton,  which  he  had  gone  as  far  as 
Licodia  to  buy  for  him.  The  poor  lad  did 
everything  as  handily  as  a  clever  maiden 
would  have  done,  and  his  father,  following 
him  with  weary  eyes  in  his  operations 
about  the  hovel,  sometimes  smiled  to  think 
that  the  boy  would  be  able  to  do  for  him- 
self in  case  he  were  left  alone  in  the  world. 


JELI,    THE   SHEPHERD.  45 

On  days  when  the  fever  left  him  for  a 
few  hours,  compare  Menu  would  get  up,  all 
feeble  as  he  was,  and  with  his  head 
wrapped  in  his  handkerchief,  would  stagger 
out  to  the  door  to  wait  for  Jeli  while  the 
sun  was  still  warm.  When  Jeli  dropped 
the  bundle  of  wood  at  the  door-steps,  and 
placed  the  bottle  and  the  eggs  on  the  table, 
he  would  say  to  him, — 

"  Put  the  ecalibbiso  to  boiling  for  to- 
night," or,  "  Remember  that  your  aunt 
Agata  has  charge  of  your  mother's  money, 
when  I  shall  be  no  more." 

Jeli  would  nod  "  yes  "  with  his  head. 

"  It  is  hopeless,"  said  massaro  Agrippino, 
every  time  he  came  to  see  compare  Menu 
and  his  fever.  "  His  blood  is  all  diseased 
by  this  time." 

Compare  Menu  listened  without  winking, 
with  his  face  whiter  than  his  night-cap. 

He  now  no  longer  got  up.  Jeli  began  to 
weep  when  he  found  himself  not  strong 
enough  to  help  him  turn  from  one  side  to 
the  other ;  shortly  after  compare  Menu  lay 


46          UNDER   THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

perfectly  still.  The  last  words  that  he 
spoke  to  his  boy  were, — 

"When  I  am  dead,  go  to  the  owner  of 
the  cows  at  Ragoleti  and  let  him  give  you 
the  three  onze  and  the  twelve  tumoli  of  corn, 
which  are  my  due  from  March  till  now." 

"  No,"  replied  Jeli,  "  it 's  only  two  onze 
and  a  half,  because  you  left  the  cows  more 
than  a  month  ago,  and  one  must  be  fair  to 
one's  padrone" 

"  True  !  "  agreed  compare  Menu,  closing 
his  eyes. 

"  Now  I  am  quite  alone  in  the  world, 
like  a  lost  colt  which  the  wolves  may  eat ! " 
said  Jeli  to  himself,  when  his  father  had 
been  carried  off  to  the  cemetery  of  Licodia. 

Mara  had  been  one  of  those  who  came 
to  see  the  dead  man's  house  with  that 
morbid  curiosity  which  is  excited  by  hor- 
rible things. 

"  Do  you  see  how  I  am  left  ? "  asked 
Jeli,  but  the  girl  drew  back  so  frightened 
that  he  could  not  induce  her  to  step  inside 
the  house  where  the  dead  man  had  been. 


JELI,    THE   SHEPHERD.  47 

Jeli  went  to  receive  the  money  due  his 
father,  and  then  he  started  off  with  his 
drove  for  Passanitello,  where  the  grass  was 
already  tall  on  the  fallow-land,  and  the 
fodder  was  abundant ;  therefore,  the  colts 
remained  there  for  some  time  in  pasture. 

Meantime  Jeli  had  been  growing  into  a 
big  lad,  and  Mara  also  must  be  grown  tall, 
he  often  thought  to  himself,  while  he  played 
on  his  zufalo;  and  when  he  returned  to 
Tebidi  after  some  little  time,  slowly  driv- 
ing forward  the  mares  through  the  dan- 
gerous paths  of  "  Uncle  Cosimo's  Foun- 
tain," he  scanned  the  little  bridge  down  in 
the  valley,  and  the  hovel  in  the  Valle  del 
Jacitano,  and  the  roof  of  "  the  Hall "  where 
the  pigeons  were  always  flying. 

But  at  that  time  the  padrone  had  dis- 
missed massaro  Agrippino,  and  all  Mara's 
family  were  just  on  the  point  of  moving 
away. 

Jeli  found  the  girl,  who  had  grown  tall 
and  very  pretty,  standing  at  the  entrance 
of  the  yard  watching  the  furniture  and 


48  UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

things,  which  they  were  loading  on  the  cart. 
The  empty  room  seemed  to  him  more 
gloomy  and  smoky  than  ever  before.  The 
table,  the  commode  and  the  images  of  the 
Virgin  and  of  Saint  John,  and  even  the 
nails  for  hanging  up  the  gourds  for  seed 
had  left  on  the  walls  the  marks  where  they 
had  been  for  so  many  years. 

"  We  are  going  away/'  said  Mara,  when 
she  saw  him  looking  around.  "We  are 
going  down  to  Marineo,  where  the  great 
house  stands  in  the  plain." 

Jeli  took  hold  and  helped  massaro  Agrip- 
pino  and  la  gnci  Lia  load  up  the  cart,  and 
when  there  was  nothing  else  to  carry  out 
of  the  room  he  went  and  sat  down  with 
Mara  on  the  edge  of  the  watering-trough. 

:'  Even  houses,"  he  remarked,  when-  he 
saw  the  last  hamper  piled  on,  "  even  houses, 
when  anything  is  taken  away  from  them, 
do  not  any  longer  seem  the  same." 

"  At  Marineo,"  replied  Mara,  "  we  shall 
have  much  better  rooms,  mamma  says,  and 
large  as  the  cheese  house." 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  49 

"  Now  that  you  are  going  away,  I  shall 
not  want  to  come  here  any  more ;  it  seems 
to  me  as  if  winter  had  come  back  —  to  see 
that  door  closed." 

"  At  Marineo  we  shall  find  other  friends, 
Pudda  la  rossa  and  the  campiere's  daughter  ; 
it  will  be  jolly  there ;  they  have  more  than 
eighty  harvesters  in  the  season,  and  the 
bag-pipes,  and  they  dance  on  the  threshing- 
floor." 

Massaro  Agrippino  and  his  wife  had 
gone  off  with  the  cart.  Mara  ran  behind 
them,  full  of  joyous  excitement,  carrying 
the  baskets  with  the  pigeons.  Jeli  was 
going  to  accompany  her  as  far  as  the  little 
bridge ;  and  when  Mara  was  just  on  the 
point  of  disappearing  down  the  valley  he 
called  after  her,  "  Mara !  oh  !  Mara  ! " 

"  What  do  you  want  ? "  demanded  Mara. 

He  knew  not  what  he  wanted. 

"  Oh  !  what  will  you  do  here  all  alone  ? " 
asked  the  girl. 

"  I  shall  stay  with  the  colts." 

Mara  ran  skipping  away,  and  he  stood 


50          UNDER   THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

there  as  if  rooted  to  the  spot  so  as  to  catch 
the  last  sounds  of  the  cart  rattling  over 
the  stones. 

The  sun  was  just  resting  on  the  high 
rocks  of  the  Poggio  alia  Croce,  the  gray 
crests  of  the  olive  trees  were  shading  into 
the  twilight  and  over  the  vast  campagna 
far  away,  nothing  was  heard  except  the 
tinkling  bell  of  "  Bianca"  in  the  gathering 
stillness. 

Mara,  now  that  she  was  in  the  midst  of 
new  faces  and  amid  all  the  bustle  of  the 
grape  gathering,  forgot  about  Jeli ;  but  he 
was  always  thinking  about  her,  because  he 
had  nothing  else  to  do  in  the  long  days 
that  he  spent  looking  at  the  horses'  tails. 
There  was  now  no  special  reason  for  him  to 
go  down  into  the  valley  beyond  the  bridge, 
and  no  one  ever  saw  him  any  more  at  the 
farm. 

Thus  it  was  that  he  was  for  some  time 
ignorant  that  Mara  had  become  betrothed 
—  so  much  water  had  run  and  run  under 
the  bridge.  The  only  time  that  he  saw 


JELI,   THE   SHEPHERD.  5 1 

the  girl  was  on  the  day  of  Saint  John's  Festa^ 
when  he  went  to  the  fair  with  his  colts  to 
sell ;  a  festa  which  changed  everything  for 
him  into  poison,  and  caused  the  bread  to 
fall  out  of  his  mouth  by  reason  of  an  acci- 
dent that  befel  one  of  the  padrone's  colts  — 
the  Lord  deliver  us  ! 

On  the  day  of  the  fair,  the  factor  waited 
for  the  colts  ever  since  dawn,  walking  im- 
patiently up  and  down  in  his  well-polished 
boots  behind  the  groups  of  horses  and 
mules  that  came  filing  in  along  the  highway 
from  this  direction  and  that.  It  was  al- 
most time  for  the  fair  to  close,  and  still 
Jeli  with  his  animals  was  not  in  sight  be- 
yond the  turn  made  by  the  highway.  On 
the  parched  slopes  of  Calvario  and  the 
Mulino  a  vento  —  the  Wind-Mill  Mountain 
—  there  remained  only  a  few  droves  of  sheep 
gathered  in  a  circle,  with  noses  drooping 
and  weary  eyes,  and  a  few  yoke  of  oxen 
with  long  hair  —  of  the  kind  that  are  sold 
to  satisfy  unpaid  rent,  waiting  motionless 
under  the  boiling  sun. 


52          UNDER   THE   SHADOW   OF    ETNA. 

Yonder  toward  the  valley,  the  bell  of 
San  Giovanni's  was  ringing  for  High 
Mass,  accompanied  by  the  long  crackling 
of  the  fireworks. 

Then  the  fair  grounds  seemed  to  spring 
up,  and  there  ran  a  prolonged  cry  among 
the  shops  of  the  green  grocers,  clustered 
in  the  place  called  salita  del  Galli,  spread- 
ing through  the  country  roads  and  seeming 
to  return  from  the  valley  where  the  church 
stood. 

"  Viva  San  Giovanni ! " 

"  Santo  diavolone  !  "  screamed  the  factor. 
"  That  assassin  of  a  Jeli  will  make  me  lose 
the  fair ! " 

The  sheep  lifted  their  heads  in  astonish- 
ment and  began  to  bleat  all  at  once,  and 
the  cattle  also  made  a  step  or  two,  slowly 
looking  around  with  their  great,  calm  eyes. 

The  factor  was  in  a  rage  because  he  was 
expected  that  day  to  pay  the  rent  due  for 
the  large  enclosures  —  as  the  contract  ex- 
pressed it,  "when  Saint  John  arrived  under 
the  elm ; "  and  to  make  up  the  full  sum, 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  53 

the  profits  on  the  sale  of  the  colts  was  nec- 
essary. Meantime  the  colts  and  horses 
and  mules  were  coming  in  such  numbers 
as  the  good  Lord  had  seen  fit  to  make,  all 
curried  and  shining  and  adorned  with  tas- 
sels and  cockades  and  bells;  and  they 
were  switching  their  tails  to  while  away 
their  tedium,  and  turning  their  heads 
toward  every  one  who  passed,  and  evi- 
dently waiting  for  some  charitable  soul 
willing  to  buy  them. 

"  He  must  have  gone  to  sleep  on  the 
way,  the  assassin ! "  yelled  the  factor,  "  and 
so  made  me  lose  the  sale  of  my  colts." 

In  reality,  Jeli  had  travelled  all  night  so 
that  the  colts  might  reach  the  fair  fresh, 
and  get  a  good  position  on  their  arrival ; 
.and  he  had  reached  the  piano  del  Corvo, 
and  the  "  three  kings  "  had  not  yet  set, 
but  were  shining  over  monte  Arturo. 
There  was  a  continuous  procession  of 
carts  passing  along  the  road,  and  people 
mounted  on  horses  or  mules  going  to  the 
festa.  Therefore,  the  young  fellow  kept 


54          UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

his  eyes  open  so  that  the  colts,  frightened 
by  the  unusual  commotion,  might  not  get 
away,  but  that  he  might  keep  them  to- 
gether along  the  ridge  of  the  road  behind 
la  bianca,  the  white  mare,  who  with  the 
bell  around  her  neck,  always  travelled 
straight  ahead  without  minding  anything. 

From  time  to  time,  when  the  road  ran 
over  the  crest  of  the  hills,  the  bell  of 
Saint  John's  could  be  heard  in  the  distance, 
and  in  the  darkness  and  silence  of  the 
plain  the  rumor  of  the  festa  was  distin- 
guishable, and  along  the  whole  road  far 
away,  wherever  there  were  people  on  foot 
or  on  horseback  going  to  Vizzini,  were 
heard  shouts  of  "  Viva  San  Giovanni!" 
And  the  rockets  rose  up  high  in  the  air 
and  brilliant  behind  the  mountains  of  la 
Canzaria,  like  the  rain  of  meteors  in 
August. 

"  It  is  like  Christmas  Eve !  "  Jeli  kept 
saying  to  the  boy,  who  was  helping  him 
drive  the  herd.  "And  in  every  place 
there  is  feasting  and  light,  and  through- 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  55 

out  the  whole  campagna  you  can  see  fire- 
works." 

The  boy  was  half  asleep  as  he  forced 
one  leg  after  the  other,  and  he  made  no 
response ;  but  Jeli,  who  felt  his  blood  stir 
within  him  at  the  sound  of  that  bell,  could 
not  keep  quiet,  as  if  each  one  of  those 
rockets  that  left  their  silent  shining  trails 
on  the  darkness  behind  the  mountains 
burst  forth  from  his  soul. 

"  Mara  also  must  be  going  to  the  festa 
of  Saint  John,"  he  said,  "  because  she  goes 
every  year." 

And  without  caring  because  the  boy 
made  no  reply, — 

"  Don't  you  know  ?  Mara  is  now  so  big 
that  she  must  be  taller  than  her  mother, 
and  when  I  saw  her  last  I  could  n't  believe 
that  it  was  the  very  same  girl  with  whom  I 
used  to  go  after  prickly  pears  and  knock 
off  the  nuts. 

And  he  began  to  sing  at  the  top  of  his 
voice  all  the  songs  that  he  knew. 

"  Oh    Alfio,   why   do    you    sleep  ? "  he 


56-         UNDER    THE    SHADOW   OF    ETNA. 

cried,  when  he  was  through  with  them. 
"  Look  out  that  you  keep  la  bianca  always 
behind  you,  look  out ! " 

"  No,  I  am  not  asleep,"  replied  Alfio, 
with  a  hoarse  voice. 

"  Do  you  see  la  puddara*  which  stands 
winking  down  at  us  yonder,  as  if  they  were 
firing  up  rockets  also  at  Santa  Domenica  ? 
It  is  almost  sunrise;  we  shall  reach  the 
fair  in  time  to  secure  a  good  position.  Ah  ! 
morellino  bello !  you  pretty  little  brownie  ! 
You  shall  have  a  new  halter,  that  you 
shall,  with  red  cockades  for  the  fair ;  and 
so  shall  you,  stellato!^ 

Thus  he  went  on,  talking  to  one  and 
another  of  his  colts  so  that  they  might  be 
encouraged  hearing  his  voice  in  the  dark- 
ness. But  it  grieved  him  to  think  that 
the  stellato  and  the  morellino  were  going  to 
the  fair  to  be  sold. 

*  La  puddara  is  the  Sicilian  name  for  Ursa  Major,— 
the  Big  Bear. 

t  Stellato,  starred,  said  of  a  horse  with  a  white  spot  in 
his  forehead. 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  57 

"  When  they  are  sold,  they  '11  go  off  with 
a  new  master,  and  we  shan't  see  them  any 
more  in  the  herd,  just  as  it  was  with  Mara 
after  she  went  to  Marineo. 

"  Her  father  is  well-to-do  down  there  at 
Marineo,  and  when  I  was  there,  found 
myself,  poor  fellow  that  I  was,  sitting  down 
to  bread  and  wine  and  cheese,  and  every- 
thing good  that  God  gives,  and  as  if  he 
were  the  factor  himself,  and  he  has  the 
keys  to  everything,  and  I  could  eat  up 
the  whole  place  if  I  had  wanted.  Mara 
scarcely  knew  me,  it  had  been  so  long 
since  we  had  seen  each  other,  and  she 
cried  out,  — '  Oh,  look!  there's  Jeli  the 
guardian  of  the  horses,  from  Tebidi.  He 
is  like  one  who  comes  home  from  abroad, 
who  only  at  the  sight  of  the  distant  moun- 
tain-top is  quick  enough  to  recognize  the 
country  where  he  grew  up.'  Gna  Lia 
did  n't  want  me  to  speak  to  her  daughter 
with  the  thee  and  the  thou,  because  Mara 
had  grown  to  be  so  big,  and  the  people 
who  don't  know  about  things  easily  gos- 


58          UNDER   THE    SHADOW   OF    ETNA. 

sip.  But  Mara  only  laughed,  and  looked 
as  if  she  had  only  just  that  minute  been 
baking  the  bread,  so  rosy  her  face  was ;  she 
was  getting  the  dinner  ready,  and  she  was 
unfolding  the  table-cloth,  and  she  seemed 
different.  l  Oh,  have  you  forgotten  Tebidi  ? ' 
I  asked  her  as  soon  as  gna  Lia  went  out 
to  broach  a  fresh  cask  of  wine.  '  No,  no, 
I  have  n't  forgotten '  said  she.  '  At  Tebidi 
there  was  a  bell  with  a  campanile  looking 
like  the  handle  of  a  salt-cellar,  and  there 
used  to  be  two  stone  cats  which  stood  at 
the  entrance  of  the  garden.'  I  felt  all 
through  me  those  things  that  she  was  say- 
ing. Mara  looked  at  me  from  head  to 
heels,  with  her  eyes  wide  open,  and  then 
she  said,  — '  How  tall  you  've  grown  ! '  and 
then  she  began  to  laugh,  and  then  she 
patted  me  on  the  head  —  here  !  " 

In  this  way  Jeli,  the  guardian  of  the 
horses,  came  to  lose  his  place  ;  for  just  at 
that  instant  there  suddenly  appeared  a 
coach,  which  had  given  no  sign  of  its  ap- 
proach, because  it  had  been  slowly  climb- 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  59 

ing  the  steep  ascent,  but  started  off  at  full 
speed  as  soon  as  it  reached  the  level  ground 
at  the  top,  with  a  great  cracking  of  whips 
and  jingling  of  bells,  as  if  it  were  carried 
by  the  devil  himself.  The  colts,  in  alarm, 
galloped  off  quicker  than  a  flash,  as  if  there 
had  been  an  earthquake,  and  all  the  shouts 
and  cries  and  ohi!  ohi !  ohi's  !  of  Jeli  and 
the  boy  scarcely  sufficed  to  collect  them 
again  around  la  bianca,  who  in  spite  of  her 
gravity  had  shied  away  desperately  with 
the  bell  around  her  neck. 

When  Jeli  had  counted  over  his  animals 
he  discovered  that  stellato  was  missing,  and 
he  buried  his  hands  in  his  hair,  because  at 
that  place  the  road  ran  along  side  a  deep 
ravine,  and  it  was  down  in  that  ravine  that 
stellato  broke  his  back — a  colt  worth  a 
dozen  onze,  like  a  dozen  angels  from  Para- 
dise !  Weeping  and  shouting  he  went 
calling  the  colt  ahu  !  ahu  !  It  was  too  dark 
to  see  it.  At  last  stellato  replied  from  the 
bottom  of  the  ravine  with  a  melancholy 
neigh,  as  if  it  had  human  speech,  poor 
creature ! 


60          UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

"  Oh,  mamma  mia !  "  cried  Jeli  and  the 
boy,  as  they  went  to  it.  "Oh,  what  bad 
luck  !  mamma  mia  !  " 

The  travellers  on  their  way  to  the  festa, 
hearing  such  a  lamentation  in  the  dark- 
ness, asked  what  they  had  lost,  and  then 
when  they  learned  what  had  happened, 
went  on  their  way. 

The  stellato  remained  motionless  where 
it  had  fallen,  with  its  legs  in  the  air,  and 
while  Jeli  was  feeling  it  all  over,  weeping 
and  talking  to  it  as  if  he  could  make  it 
understand,  the  poor  creature  stretched 
out  its  neck  painfully  and  turned  its  head 
toward  him,  and  then  could  be  heard  its 
breathing,  cut  short  by  its  agony. 

"  Something  must  be  broken  ! "  mourned 
Jeli  in  despair,  because  nothing  could  be 
seen  in  the  darkness  ;  and  the  colt,  inert  as 
a  rock,  let  its  head  fall  back.  Alfio,  who 
remained  on  the  road  above  in  charge  of 
the  drove,  had  begun  to  view  the  matter 
more  calmly,  and  had  taken  out  his  bread 
from  his  bag. 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  6 1 

The  sky  by  this  time  was  beginning  to 
grow  pale,  and  the  mountains  all  around 
seemed  to  be  blossoming  out,  one  after 
another,  dark  and  high.  From  the  bend 
in  the  road  the  country  round  about  began 
to  stand  out,  with  monte  del  Calvario  and 
monte  del  Mulino  a  vento  —  the  Windmill 
Mountain  —  outlined  against  the  dawn. 
They  were  still  in  shadow,  but  the  flocks  of 
sheep  made  white  blurs,  and  as  the  herds 
of  cattle  grazing  along  the  ridge  of  the 
mountains  wandered  hither  and  thither 
against  the  azure  sky,  it  seemed  as  if  the 
profile  of  the  mountain  itself  were  alive 
and  full  of  motion. 

The  bell  from  the  depths  of  the  valley 
was  no  longer  heard ;  travellers  were  grow- 
ing less  numerous,  and  those  who  passed 
along  were  in  haste  to  reach  the  fair. 
Poor  Jeli  knew  not  what  saint  to  call  on  in 
that  solitude.  Alfio  himself  could  not  help 
him  in  any  way;  so  the  boy  continued 
breaking  off  the  morsels  of  his  loaf  leis- 
urely. 


62          UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

At  last  the  factor  was  seen  coming  along 
mounted,  cursing  and  swearing  as  he 
came,  at  seeing  his  animals  stopped  on 
the  road.  When  Alfio  saw  him  he  ran  off 
down  the  hill.  But  Jeli  did  not  stir  from 
the  side  of  the  stellato.  The  factor  left  his 
mule  by  the  roadside,  and  climbed  down 
into  the  ravine.  He  tried  to  help  the  colt 
to  rise ;  he  pulled  him  by  the  tail. 

"  Let  him  be,"  said  Jeli,  as  white  in  the 
face  as  if  it  were  himself  whose  back  was 
broken.  "  Let  him  be !  Don't  you  see 
that  he  can't  move,  poor  creature." 

The  stellate,  in  fact,  at  every  movement 
and  at  every  attempt  made  to  help  him, 
set  up  a  screech  that  seemed  human.  The 
factor  fell  on  Jeli  tooth  and  nail,  and  gave 
him  as  many  kicks  as  there  are  angels  and 
saints  in  Paradise.  By  this  time  Alfio  had 
got  his  courage  back,  and  had  returned  to 
the  road,  so  that  the  animals  might  not  be 
without  a  guardian,  and  he  tried  to  excuse 
himself,  saying,  "'T  was  n't  my  fault.  I 
was  on  ahead  with  the  bianca" 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  63 

"  There 's  nothing  more  to  be  done/' 
said  the  factor  at  last,  having  persuaded 
himself  that  it  was  all  time  lost.  "  Noth- 
ing can  be  done  with  this  colt  but  to  take 
his  pelt ;  that 's  good  for  something." 

Jeli  began  to  tremble  like  a  leaf  when  he 
saw  the  factor  go  and  fetch  his  gun  from 
the  mule's  pack. 

"  Get  off  of  him,  good-for-nothing ! " 
shouted  the  factor.  "  I  don't  know  what 
keeps  me  from  laying  you  out  beside  this 
colt,  which  is  worth  more  than  you,  in 
spite  of  the  swine's  baptism  which  that 
thief  of  a  priest  gave  you ! " 

The  stellato,  unable  to  move,  turned  its 
head,  with  its  big,  steady  eyes,  as  if  it 
understood  every  word,  and  its  skin  crisped 
in  waves  along  the  back-bone  as  if  a  chill 
ran  over  it. 

In  that  way,  the  factor  killed  the  stellato 
on  the  spot,  so  as  at  least  to  save  his  pelt, 
and  the  dull  noise  which  the  gun  held  at 
short  range  made,  as  the  charge  pierced 
the  living  flesh,  Jeli  thought  he  felt  in  his 
own  heart. 


64         UNDER   THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

"  Now  if  you  want  a  piece  of  advice 
from  me,"  said  the  factor,  as  he  left  him 
there,  "  I  'd  not  let  the  master  lay  eyes  on 
you,  in  spite  of  that  bit  of  wages  due  you, 
for  you  may  be  sure,  he  'd  give  it  to  you 
with  a  vengeance  ! " 

The  factor  went  off  together  with  Alfio, 
taking  along  the  other  colts,  which  did  not 
once  turn  round  to  see  what  had  become 
of  the  stellato,  but  proceeded  cropping  the 
grass  along  the  ridge.  The  poor  stellato 
was  left  alone  in  the  ravine  waiting  for  the 
knacker  to  flay  him,  its  eyes  were  still  wide 
open,  and  its  four  legs  stretched  into  the 
air,  for  to  stretch  them  up  was  the  only 
thing  it  could  do. 

Jeli,  now  that  he  had  seen  how  the  factor 
had  been  able  to  aim  at  the  colt,  as  it 
painfully  lifted  its  head  in  fear,  and  had 
been  courageous  enough  to  fire  off  the  gun 
at  it,  no  longer  wept,  but  remained  sitting 
on  a  rock  looking  at  the  stellato  till  the 
men  came  to  take  off  the  pelt.  Now  he 
might  go  at  his  own  pleasure  and  enjoy  the 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  65 

festa,  or  stand  in  the  square  all  day  long 
and  see  the  gentlemen  in  the  cafe,  as  best 
pleased  him,  for  now  he  no  longer  had 
bread  or  a  shelter,  and  it  behooved  him  to 
find  a  new  padrone,  if  any  one  would  take 
him  after  the  misfortune  of  the  stellato. 

Thus  go  things  in  this  world :  —  While 
Jeli  was  seeking  a  new  employer,  walking 
about  with  his  bag  over  his  shoulder  and 
his  staff  in  his  hand,  the  band  was  playing 
gayly  in  the  square,  with  plumes  in  their 
caps,  and  surrounded  by  a  merry  throng 
of  white  hats  thick  as  flies,  and  the  gentle- 
men were  enjoying  themselves  as  they  sat 
at  their  coffee.  All  the  people  were 
dressed  in  holiday  attire  like  the  animals 
of  the  fair,  and  in  one  corner  of  the  square 
was  a  lady,  with  a  short  gown  and  flesh- 
colored  stockings,  making  her  appear  bare- 
legged, and  she  was  pounding  on  a  great 
box  before  a  great  painted  sheet  on  which 
appeared  a  slaughter  of  Christians  with 
blood  flowing  in  torrents,  and,  there  among 
the  throng,  gazing  with  open  mouth,  was 


66          UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

massaro  Cola,  whom  he  used  to  know  when 
he  was  at  Passanitello,  and  he  told  him  that 
he  would  find  him  an  employer,  because 
compare  Isidoro  Macca  was  in  want  of  a 
herdsman  for  his  hogs. 

"  But  I  would  n't  say  anything  about 
stellato"  recommended  massaro  Cola.  "  A 
misfortune  like  that  might  happen  to  any 
one  in  the  world.  But  it  is  best  not  to 
talk  about  it." 

So  they  went  in  search  of  compare 
Macca,  who  was  at  the  ball,  and  while 
massaro  Cola  went  to  plead  his  cause,  Jeli 
waited  outside  in  the  street  in  the  midst  of 
the  throng,  who  were  gazing  in  at  the  door 
of  the  hall.  In  the  big  room,  there  was  a 
world  of  people  jumping  about  enjoying 
themselves,  all  flushed  and  perspiring,  and 
making  a  great  trampling  on  the  floor, 
while  above  all  was  heard  the  ron  ron  of 
the  double  bass,  and  as  soon  as  one  piece 
of  music,  costing  a  grano?  was  finished 
they  would  all  lift  their  fingers  to  signify 

*A  fraction  of  a  soldo,  or  cent. 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  67 

that  they  wanted  another ;  and  the  man  of 
the  double  bass  would  make  a  cross  with  a 
piece  of  charcoal  on  the  wall,  to  keep 
account  to  the  last,  and  then  begin  over 
again. 

"  Those  in  there  spend  without  thought," 
said  Jeli,  to  himself.  "That  means  that 
they  have  their  pockets  full  and  are  not  in 
trouble  as  I  am,  for  lack  of  an  employer, 
and  if  they  sweat  and  tire  themselves  out 
in  dancing,  it  is  for  their  own  pleasure,  as 
if  they  were  paid  by  the  day." 

Massaro  Cola  came  back  saying  that 
compare  Macca  needed  no  one. 

Then  Jeli  turned  away,  and  walked  off 
gloomily,  gloomily. 

Mara's  home  was  toward  Sant' Antonio, 
where  the  houses  climb  up  the  mountain- 
side, facing  the  valley  of  la  Canziria,  all 
green  with  prickly  pears,  and  with  the  mill- 
wheels  churning  the  water  into  foam  in 
the  lowlands  by  the  stream.  But  Jeli 
had  n't  the  courage  to  go  in  that  direction, 
now  that  they  needed  no  one  to  watch  the 


68          UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

swine ;  and,  making  his  way  amid  the 
throng  which  jostled  him  and  pushed  him 
without  any  thought  of  him,  he  seemed 
more  alone  than  ever  he  had  been  when  he 
was  with  his  colts  in  the  plains  of  Passa- 
nitello,  and  he  felt  like  weeping. 

At  last  massaro  Agrippino,  wandering 
about  with  his  arms  swinging,  and  enjoying 
the  festa,  fell  in  with  him  in  the  square, 
and  shouted  to  him,  — 

"  Oh  !   Jeli !  oh  !  "  and  took  him  home. 

Mara  was  in  gala  dress,  with  such  long 
ear-rings  that  they  hung  down  to  her 
cheeks,  and  she  was  standing  on  the 
threshold  with  her  hands  folded,  loaded 
with  rings,  waiting  till  it  should  grow  dark, 
so  as  to  go  and  see  the  fireworks. 

"  Oh !  "  said  Mara  to  him,  "  so  you  have 
come  also  for  thefesta  of  Saint  John! " 

Jeli  did  not  want  to  go  in  because  he 
was  shabbily  dressed,  but  massaro  Agrip- 
pino forced  him  in  saying  that  it  was  not 
the  first  time  they  had  ever  seen  each 
other,  and  that  he  knew  that  he  had  come 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  69 

to  the  fair  with  his  employer's  colts.  Gna 
Lia  poured  him  out  a  good  generous  glass 
of  wine,  and  wanted  to  take  him  with  them 
to  see  the  illuminations,  together  with  the 
comari  and  their  other  neighbors. 

When  they  reached  the  square  Jeli  stood 
with  open  mouth,  wondering  at  the  specta- 
cle ;  the  whole  square  seemed  a  sea  of  fire 
as  when  the  steppes  are  burning,  and  the 
reason  was  the  great  number  of  torches 
which  the  devout  lighted  under  the  eyes  of 
the  saint,  who  stood  enjoying  it  all  at  the 
entrance  of  il  Rosario  —  all  black  under  his 
silver  baldachin.  The  acolytes  were  com- 
ing and  going  amid  the  flames  like  so 
many  demons,  and  there  was,  moreover,  a 
woman  in  loose  attire  and  with  dishevelled 
hair,  and  with  her  eyes  staring  out  of  her 
head,  also  engaged  in  lighting  the  candles, 
and  a  priest  in  a  black  soutane  and  with- 
out a  hat,  like  one  rendered  crazy  by 
religion. 

"  There 's  the  son  of  massaro  Neri,  the 
factor  of  Saloni,  and  he  is  spending  more 


70          UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

than  ten  lire  for  rockets,"  said  gna  Lia, 
pointing  to  a  young  man  who  was  going 
round  through  the  square  holding  two 
rockets  in  each  hand,  just  like  candles,  so 
that  all  the  women  devoured  him  with  their 
eyes,  and  cried  to  him:  "Viva  San  Gio- 
vanni!" 

"  His  father  is  rich  and  owns  more  than 
twenty  head  of  cattle,"  added  massaro 
Agrippino. 

Mara  also  knew  well  that  he  had  carried 
the  great  banner  in  the  procession,  and  held 
it  as  straight  as  a  pillar  —  such  a  strong  and 
handsome  youth  was  he. 

Massaro  Neri's  son  seemed  to  have 
heard  them,  and  he  set  off  his  rockets  for 
Mara,  making  the  wheel  of  fire  before  her, 
and  after  this  part  of  the  fireworks  was 
over,  he  joined  them,  and  took  them  to  the 
ball  and  to  the  cosmorama,  where  the  new 
world  and  the  old  world  were  to  be  seen 
depicted,  and  he  paid  for  them  all,  even 
for  Jeli,  who  followed  behind  the  others 
like  a  masterless  cur,  to  see  massaro  Neri's 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  71 

son  dancing  with  Mara,  who  whirled  round 
and  crouched  down  like  a  dove  on  a  roof, 
and  held  daintily  up  the  corner  of  her 
apron,  and  massaro  Neri's  son  gamboling 
like  a  colt,  so  that  gna  Lia  wept  like  a 
child  at  the  consolation  of  the  sight,  and 
massaro  Agrippino  nodded  with  his  head 
to  signify  that  all  was  going  to  his  mind. 

At  last  when  they  were  all  tired,  they 
went  out  where  the  people  were  promenad- 
ing, and  they  were  carried  away  by  the 
crowd  as  if  they  were  in  the  midst  of  a 
torrent,  and  there  they  saw  the  transparen- 
cies lighted  where  the  decapitation  of  Saint 
John  was  represented  with  such  faithfulness 
that  it  would  have  moved  the  heart  of  a 
Turk,  and  the  saint  kicked  out  his  legs  like 
a  goat  under  the  hatchet.  Near  by  the 
band  was  playing  under  a  great  wooden 
umbrella,  all  lighted  up,  and  in  the  square 
there  was  such  a  crowd  that  one  would 
have  said  never  before  had  so  many 
Christians  come  to  the  fair. 

Mara  went  holding  massaro  Neri's  son's 


72          UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

arm,  as  if  she  were  a  fine  lady,  and  she 
whispered  into  his  ear  and  laughed,  as  if 
she  were  having  a  fine  time.  Jeli  was 
utterly  tired  out,  and  actually  went  to  sleep 
sitting  on  the  sidewalk  till  the  first  bombs 
of  the  fireworks  were  sent  up.  At  that 
moment  Mara  was  still  by  the  side  of 
massaro  Neri's  son,  leaning  against  him 
with  her  hands  clasped  on  his  shoulder, 
and  in  the  different-colored  lights  from  the 
fireworks  she  seemed  now  all  white  and 
now  all  rosy.  When  the  last  sparks  died 
away  in  the  darkness  of  the  sky,  massaro 
Neri's  son  turned  toward  her,  with  green 
light  on  his  face,  and  gave  her  a  kiss. 

Jeli  said  nothing,  but  at  that  instant  all 
that  he  had  enjoyed  till  then  changed  into 
poison,  and  he  began  once  more  to  think 
of  his  misfortunes,  which  he  had  for  the 
moment  forgotten  —  that  he  was  without 
an  employer — and  knew  not  what  to  do, 
nor  where  to  go,  that  he  had  no  food  or 
shelter;  that  the  dogs  might  eat  him  as 
they  were  eating  the  poor  stellato  left  down 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  73 

in  the  bottom  of  the  ravine,  skinned  to  the 
hoofs ! 

Meantime,  around  him  the  people  were 
still  making  merry  in  the  darkness  that 
had  ensued;  Mara,  with  her  companions, 
was  dancing  and  singing  through  the  rock- 
paved  streets  as  they  turned  homeward. 

"Good-night !  Good-night — buona  notte  /" 
shouted  the  people  to  one  another,  as  they 
were  left  at  their  own  doors.  Mara  shouted 
"good-night  —  buona  notte !"  in  her  musical 
voice,  and  it  expressed  her  happiness,  and 
massaro  Neri's  son  did  not  see  fit  to  leave 
her  while  massaro  Agrippino  and  gna  Lia 
were  disputing  about  the  opening  of  the 
house  door.  No  one  gave  Jeli  a  thought, 
till  at  last  massaro  Agrippino  remembered 
him,  and  said, — 

"  And  where  are  you  going  ? " 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Jeli. 

"  Come  and  see  me  to-morrow  and  I  will 
help  you  find  a  place.  For  to-night,  go 
back  to  the  square  where  we  have  been 
hearing  the  band  play.  You  '11  find  a  spot 


74          UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

on  some  bench,  and  sleep  out  doors ;  you 
must  be  used  to  that." 

Jeli  was  used  to  that,  but  what  pained 
him  was  that  Mara  said  nothing  to  him, 
but  left  him  there  at  the  door  as  if  he  were 
a  beggar ;  and  the  next  day  when  he  came 
back  to  see  massaro  Agrippino,  he  was 
hardly  alone  with  the  girl  before  he  said  to 
her, — 

"  Oh,  gna  Mara  !  How  you  forget  old 
friends ! " 

"  Oh,  is  that  you,  Jeli  ? "  replied  Mara. 
"  No,  I  have  n't  forgotten  you.  But  I  was 
so  tired  after  the  fireworks  !  " 

"  You  're  in  love  with  him  are  n't  you  — 
massaro  Neri's  son  ?  "  demanded  Jeli,  twirl- 
ing his  staff  in  his  hands. 

"  What  are  you  saying?"  abruptly  inter- 
posed gna  Mara.  "  My  mother  is-  there 
and  hears  everything  you  say." 

Massaro  Agrippino  found  him  a  place  as 
shepherd  at  la  Salonia,  where  massaro 
Neri  was  factor,  but  as  Jeli  was  not  very 
much  skilled  in  taking  care  of  sheep,  he 


JELI,    THE   SHEPHERD.  75 

had  to  be  content  with  far  smaller  wages 
than  he  had  been  having. 

Now  he  attended  faithfully  to  his  flocks, 
and  strove  to  learn  how  cheese  is  made  — 
the  ricotta  and  the  caciocavallo,  and  all  the 
other  products  of  the  flocks;  but  in  the 
gossip  that  went  on  at  eventide  in  the 
yard,  among  the  shepherds  and  contadini, 
while  the  women  were  preparing  the  beans 
for  the  soup,  if  ever  massaro  Neri's  son 
was  mentioned  as  soon  to  marry  massaro 
Agrippino's  Mara,  Jeli  said  not  a  word, 
and  never  dared  open  his  mouth. 

One  time  when  the  keeper  insulted  him, 
by  saying,  jestingly,  that  Mara  refused  to 
have  anything  more  to  do  with  him,  after 
every  one  had  declared  that  they  were  to 
be  husband  and  wife,  Jeli,  as  he  went  to 
the  pot  where  the  milk  was  boiling,  replied, 
as  he  slowly  shook  in  the  rennet, — 

*  "  Now  Mara  has  grown  to  be  so  pretty, 
she  seems  like  a  lady." 

But  as  he  was  patient  and  laborious, 
and  quickly  got  hold  of  the  secrets  of  the 


7  6          UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF  .ETNA. 

business,  even  better  than  one  who  had 
been  born  to  it,  and  as  he  was  accustomed 
to  be  with  animals,  he  came  to  love  his 
sheep  as  if  they  were  his  own,  and  for  this 
reason  the  distemper  —  il  male — did  not 
do  so  much  damage  at  la  Salonia,  and  the 
flock  prospered,  so  that  it  was  a  delight  for 
massaro  Neri  every  time  that  he  came 
to  the  estate,  and  the  next  year  it  was 
no  great  trouble  to  induce  the  padrone  to 
increase  Jeli's  wages,  so  that  he  came  to 
have  as  much  as  he  got  in  looking  out  for 
the  horses.  And  it  was  money  well  spent, 
for  Jeli  never  thought  of  reckoning  up  the 
miles  and  miles  that  he  travelled  in  search 
of  the  best  pasturage  for  his  flock,  and  if 
the  sheep  were  with  young  or  were  sick,  he 
would  take  them  to  his  saddle-bags  and 
carry  the  lambs  in  his  arms,  and  they 
would  lick  his  face,  thrusting  their  noses 
out  of  his  pocket,  and  they  would  even 
suck  his  ears. 

In    the   famous    snow   storm   of    Santa 
Lucia's    night,    the    snow    fell    four  hand- 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  77 

breadths  deep  in  the  lago  morto  at  la 
Salonia,  and  all  around  for  miles  and  miles 
there  was  nothing  else  to  be  seen  when  day 
came,  and  nothing  would  have  been  left  of 
the  sheep  but  the  ears,  had  not  Jeli  got  up 
three  or  four  times  in  the  course  of  the 
night  to  drive  the  sheep  into  the  yard,  so 
that  the  poor  beasts  shook  the  snow  from 
their  backs  and  did  not  remain,  as  it  were 
buried,  as  was  the  case  in  so  many  of  the 
neighboring  flocks  —  at  least  so  massaro 
Agrippino  said  when  he  came  to  give  a 
look  to  a  field  of  beans  which  he  had  at  la 
Salonia,  and  he  also  said  that  that  story  of 
massaro  Neri's  son  marrying  his  daughter 
Mara  was  a  lie  made  up  of  whole  cloth  — 
that  Mara  had  some  one  else  in  mind. 

"  It  was  said  they  were  to  be  married  at 
Christmas,"  said  Jeli. 

"  Nothing  of  the  sort ;  they  are  n't  to 
marry  at  all ;  it 's  all  the  gossip  of  envious 
folks  who  meddle  with  others'  business," 
replied  massaro  Agrippino. 

But  the  keeper,  who  had  known  about  it 


7  8          UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

for  some  time,  having  heard  it  talked  about 
in  town  when  he  was  there  on  Sunday,  told 
the  story  as  it  really  was,  after  massaro 
Agrippino  had  gone  away. 

"The  engagement  was  broken  because 
massaro  Neri's  son  had  learned  that 
massaro  Agrippino's  Mara  was  keeping 
company  with  Don  Alfonso,  the  signorino, 
who  had  known  Mara  from  a  little  girl ; 
and  massaro  Neri  had  declared  that  his 
son  was  to  be  a  man  respected  as  his 
father  was,  and  the  only  horns  he  wanted 
in  his  house  should  be  those  of  his  oxen." 

Jeli  was  present  at  this  conversation,  sit- 
ting with  the  others  in  the  circle  at  break- 
fast, and  at  that  instant  was  cutting  his 
bread.  He  still  said  nothing,  but  his  appe- 
tite left  him  for  that  day. 

While  he  was  driving  his  sheep  but  to 
pasture  he  began  to  think  of  Mara,  as  she 
had  been  when  she  was  a  little  girl,  when 
they  were  together  all  day  long  wandering 
through  the  valle  deljacitano  and  over  the 
poggio  alia  Croce,  and  how  she  stood  look- 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  79 

ing  at  him,  with  her  chin  in  the  air,  while 
he  climbed  up  to  the  tree-tops  after  the 
birds'  nests ;  and  he  thought  also  of  Don 
Alfonso,  who  used  to  come  and  see  him 
from  the  neighboring  villa,  and  how  they 
would  stretch  themselves  out  on  their 
bellies,  stirring  up  crickets'  nests  with 
straws.  All  these  things  he  considered 
and  reconsidered  for  hours  and  hours,  as 
he  sat  on  the  edge  of  the  brook,  holding 
his  knees  between  his  arms,  and  thinking 
of  the  tall  walnuts  of  Tebidi,  and  the  thick 
bushes  in  the  valleys  and  the  slopes  of  the 
hills,  green  with  sumachs,  and  the  gray 
olive  trees  spreading  through  the  valley 
like  a  fog,  and  the  red-tiled  roof  of  the 
house,  and  the  campanile  that  looked  like 
"a  handle  of  a  salt  cellar"  among  the 
oranges  of  the  garden. 

Here  the  campagna  stretched  away 
naked,  desert,  speckled  with  dried  grass, 
blending  silently  with  the  distant  horizon. 

In  Spring  the  bean  pods  had  begun  to 
fill  out  when  Mara  came  to  la  Salonia  with 


8o          UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

her  father  and  mother  and  the  boy  and 
the  ass,  to  pick  the  beans,  and  they  all 
came  together  to  sleep  at  the  farm  for  two 
or  three  days  during  the  picking. 

In  this  way  Jeli  saw  the  girl  morning 
and  evening,  and  they  would  sit  together 
on  the  wall  of  the  sheep-fold  and  talk, 
while  the  boy  looked  after  the  sheep. 

"  It  seems  as  if  I  were  at  Tebidi  again," 
said  Mara,  "when  we  were  little  things, 
and  used  to  stand  on  the  foot  bridge. 

Jeli  also  remembered  everything,  though 
he  said  little,  being  always  a  judicious 
youth,  and  of  few  words. 

When  the  harvest  was  over,  and  the  eve 
of  parting  had  come,  Mara  went  out  to  talk 
with  the  young  man,  just  as  he  was  making 
"  ricotto  cheese,"  and  he  was  wholly  intent 
in  skimming  the  whey  with  his  ladle: 

"  Now  I  '11  say  addio"  said  she,  "  for  to- 
morrow we  return  to  Vizzini." 

"  How  have  the  beans  gone  ? " 

"  Bad  !  la  lupa  *  has  eaten  them  all  this 
year." 

*  A  parasitic  disease. 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  8 1 

"  It  depends  on  the  rain  which  has  been 
scarce/'  said  Jeli.  "We  have  had  to  kill 
even  the  lambs  because  there  has  n't  been 
enough  feed  for  them.  Over  all  of  la 
Salonia  there  has  n't  been  three  inches  of 
grass." 

"  But  that  does  n't  affect  you.  You  al- 
ways have  your  wages,  good  year  or  bad." 

"Yes,  that's  so,"  said  he.  "But  it  dis- 
gusts me  to  give  those  poor  creatures  to 
the  butcher." 

"  Do  you  remember  when  you  came  for 
thefesta  of  Saint  John,  and  were  left  with- 
out a  padrone?" 

"Yes,  I  remember." 

"  It  was  my  father  who  got  you  a  place 
here  with  massaro  Neri." 

"  And  why  did  n't  you  marry  massaro 
Neri's  son  ? " 

"  Because  it  was  n't  the  will  of  God.  My 
father  has  been  unlucky,"  she  continued, 
after  a  brief  pause.  "  Since  we  came  to 
Marineo,  everything  has  gone  ill  with  us. 
The  beans,  the  corn,  that  piece  of  vineyard 


82          UNDER   THE   SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

that  we  have  yonder.  Then  my  brother 
went  off  to  the  army,  and  we  lost  a  mule 
that  was  worth  forty  onze" 

"  I  know,"  said  Jeli,  "  the  bay  mule." 

"  Now,  that  we  have  lost  all  our  prop- 
erty, who  would  want  to  marry  me  ?  " 

Mara  was  breaking  up  a  twig  of  briar 
while  she  said  this,  with  her  chin  in  her 
bosom,  and,  with  her  elbow,  she  gently 
nudged  Jeli's  elbow  without  appearing  to 
mean  it.  But  Jeli,  with  his  eyes  on  the 
churn,  also  made  no  response,  and  she 
went  on, — 

"At  Tebidi  they  used  to  say  that  you 
and  I  would  be  husband  and  wife,  do  you 
remember  ? " 

"  Yes,"  said  Jeli,  and  he  laid  his  ladle  on 
the  top  of  the  churn.  "  But  I  am  a  poor 
shepherd,  and  I  can  not  pretend  to  a 
massartfs  daughter  like  you." 

La  Mara  remained  silent  for  a  little 
while,  and  then  she  said,  "  If  you  want 
me,  I  will  willingly  be  yours." 

"Really?" 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  83 

"Yes,  really." 

"  And  what  will  massaro  Agrippino  say 
to  it?" 

"  My  father  says  that  now  that  you  know 
your  trade,  and  since  you  are  not  one  of 
those  who  waste  their  wages,  but  make  one 
soldo  into  two,  and  do  not  eat  to  consume 
bread,  in  time  you  will  come  to  have  flocks 
of  your  own,  and  will  be  rich." 

"  If  that  is  so,"  said  Jeli,  in  conclusion, 
"  I  will  gladly  take  you." 

"There,"  said  Mara,  as  soon  as  it  had 
grown  dark  and  the  sheep  were  relapsing 
into  silence,  "  if  you  want  a  kiss,  I  will  give 
you  one,  because  we  are  going  to  be  hus- 
band and  wife." 

Jeli  took  one  in  "  holy  peace,"  and  not 
knowing  what  to  say, added,  "I  have  always 
loved  you,  even  when  you  were  going  to 
desert  me  for  the  son  of  massaro  Neri." 

But  he  had  not  the  heart  to  speak  of  the 
other  one. 

"Don't  you  see?  We  were  meant  for 
one  another,"  said  Mara,  in  conclusion. 


84          UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

Massaro  Agrippino,  in  fact,  said  "Yes," 
and  gna  Lia  put  on  a  new  gown,  and  she 
had  a  pair  of  velvet  trousers  made  for  their 
son-in-law.  Mara  was  as  lovely  and  fresh 
as  a  rose,  with  her  white  mantellina,  re- 
minding you  of  the  Paschal  lamb,  and  that 
amber  necklace  which  made  her  neck  look 
so  white ;  so,  when  Jeli  walked  through  the 
street  at  her  side,  he  marched  stiffly  and 
erect,  dressed  in  his  new  cloth  and  velvet 
suit,  and  he  did  not  dare  even  blow  his 
nose  with  his  red  silk  handkerchief,  lest  he 
should  make  a  fool  of  himself;  and  the 
neighbors  and  all  who  knew  the  story  of 
Don  Alfonso  laughed  in  his  face. 

When  Mara  said  "  sissignore?  and  the 
priest  made  her  Jeli's  wife  with  a  grand 
sign  of  the  cross,  Jeli  took  her  home,  and 
it  seemed  to  him  as  if  they  had  given  him 
all  the  gold  of  the  Madonna,  and  all  the 
lands  that  he  had  seen  with  his  eyes. 

"Now  that  we  are  husband  and  wife," 
said  he,  when  they  reached  their  house,  as 
he  was  sitting  in  front  of  her,  and  trying  to 


JELI,    THE   SHEPHERD.  85 

appear  very  humble,  "now  that  we  are 
husband  and  wife,  I  may  tell  you  that  it 
does  not  seem  to  me  true  as  you  pre- 
tended—  you  might  have  had  ever  so  many 
better  husbands  than  I  —  so  beautiful  and 
gracious  you  are." 

The  poor  fellow  could  not  find  anything 
else  to  say,  and  he  could  not  contain  his 
delight  to  see  Mara  setting  and  arranging 
everything  through  the  house,  and  playing 
la  padrona.  He  found  it  impossible  to  tear 
himself  away  to  return  to  la  Salonia ;  when 
he  started  Monday,  he  was  very  slow  in 
arranging  in  the  pack  of  the  ass,  his  saddle- 
bags, and  his  cloak,  and  his  umbrella. 

"  You  ought  to  come  to  la  Salonia,  your- 
self," he  said  to  his  wife,  who  was  watch- 
ing him  from  the  door-step.  "  You  ought 
to  come  with  me." 

But  the  young  woman  began  to  laugh, 
and  replied  that  she  was  not  born  to  look 
after  sheep,  and  had  no  reason  to  go  to  la 
Salonia. 

Truly,  Mara  was  not  born  for  tending 


86         UNDER   THE   SHADOW   OF   ETNA. 

sheep,  and  she  was  not  accustomed  to  the 
January  tramontana  wind,  which  stiffens 
the  hand  on  the  staff,  and  it  seems  as  if 
your  fingers  would  drop  off,  or  to  furi- 
ous storms  that  come,  when  the  water 
penetrates  to  your  very  bones,  and  again, 
when  the  dust  drives  choking  through  the 
streets,  when  the  sheep  travel  under  the 
boiling  sun,  or  to  the  hard  bed  on  the 
ground,  and  the  mouldy  bread,  and  the 
long,  silent,  solitary  days,  when  through 
the  arid  fields  nothing  else  is  seen  in  the 
distance  but  occasionally  some  sun-burned 
peasant  driving  his  ass  silently  along  over 
the  white,  interminable  road. 

Jeli  knew  at  least  that  Mara  was  warm 
and  comfortable  under  the  quilts,  or  was 
spinning  in  front  of  the  fire,  talking  with 
the  women  of  the  neighborhood,  or  was 
enjoying  the  sun  on  the  balcony,  while  he 
was  returning  from  the  pasture  tired  and 
thirsty,  or  wet  through  with  the  rain,  or 
when  the  wind  drifted  the  snow  back  of 
his  hut  and  put  out  his  fire  of  branches. 


JELI,    THE   SHEPHERD.  87 

Every  month  Mara  went  to  receive  the 
wages  from  the  padrone,  and  they  lacked 
neither  eggs  nor  fowls,  nor  oil  in  the  lamp, 
nor  wine  in  the  jug.  Twice  a  month  Jeli 
came  home  to  see  her,  and  she  would  stand 
on  the  balcony  looking  for  him  with  her 
spindle  in  her  hand,  and  after  he  had  left 
the  ass  in  the  stable  and  removed  his  pack 
and  rilled  the  rack  with  oats,  and  placed 
the  wood  under  the  shed  in  the  yard,  or 
whatever  he  brought  into  the  kitchen, 
Mara  would  help  him  hang  his  cloak  on 
the  nail  and  take  off  his  leather  leggings 
before  the  hearth,  and  pour  him  out  a 
glass  of  wine,  and  set  to  work  to  boil  the 
soup  and  get  the  table  ready,  quiet  and 
thoughtful,  like  a  good  housewife,  while 
talking  of  this  thing  and  that,  —  of  the 
brooding  hen  that  was  setting,  of  the  cloth 
that  was  on  the  loom,  of  the  calf  which 
they  were  raising,  never  forgetting  anything 
of  what  she  had  been  doing. 

Jeli,  when  he  found  himself  at  home,  felt 
that  he  was  more  important  than  the  pope. 


88          UNDER   THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

But  on  the  eve  of  Santa  Barbara  he 
came  home  unexpectedly  late,  when  all 
the  lights  were  out  in  the  street  and  the 
town  clock  was  striking  midnight  He 
came  in  because  the  mare  which  the  pa- 
drone had  left  out  at  pasture  had  been  sud- 
denly taken  sick,  and  he  saw  that  it  was  a 
case  that  required  the  services  of  the  farrier 
quickly,  and  he  had  wanted  to  bring  him  to 
town  in  spite  of  the  rain  that  was  falling 
like  a  torrent,  and  the  muddy  roads  into 
which  he  sunk  half  up  to  his  knees. 

Knock  and  call  as  loud  as  he  might  be- 
hind the  door,  he  had  to  wait  half  an  hour 
under  the  eaves,  while  the  water  ran  out 
at  his  heels.  At  last  his  wife  came  to  open 
for  him,  and  began  to  scold  worse  than  if 
it  had  been  herself  who  had  been  obliged 
to  wander  across  country  in  such  a  tempest. 

"  Oh,  what's  the  matter  ? "  she  demanded. 
"  How  you  frightened  me  coming  at  this 
time  o'  night !  Does  it  seem  to  you  a 
proper  Christian  time  to  come?  To-mor- 
row I  shall  be  ill ! " 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  89 

"  Go  back  to  bed,  I  will  start  up  a  fire." 

"  No,  I  '11  have  to  go  and  get  some 
wood." 

"I '11  go." 

"  No,  I  say." 

When  Mara  returned  with  the  wood  in 
her  arms  Jeli  said  to  her,  "Why  did  you 
leave  the  door  to  the  yard  open?  Was 
there  not  enough  wood  in  the  kitchen  ? " 

"  No,  I  went  to  get  it  under  the  shed." 

She  let  him  kiss  her,  coldly,  coldly,  and 
turned  her  head  in  another  direction. 

"  His  wife  lets  him  wait  at  the  door," 
said  the  neighbors,  "  when  there  is  another 
bird  in  the  nest." 

But  Jeli  knew  nothing  about  the  fact  that 
his  wife  was  untrue  to  him,  nor  did  any  one 
care  to  tell  him,  because  it  could  surely  be 
of  no  consequence,  for  he  had  taken  the 
woman  with  a  damaged  reputation  after 
massaro  Neri's  son  had  jilted  her,  because 
he  knew  of  the  story  of  Don  Alfonso.  But 
Jeli  seemed  to  live  happy  and  contented  in 
the  shame  of  it,  and  grew  as  fat  as  a  pig; 


QO          UNDER   THE   SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

for  the  proverb  has  it  "  horns  are  lean  but 
they  make  the  house  fat."  At  last,  one 
time,  the  herdman's  boy  told  it  to  him  in 
his  face,  while  they  were  scuffling  about 
the  pieces  of  cheese  that  had  been  stolen. 

"  Now  that  Don  Alfonso  has  taken  your 
wife  you  consider  yourself  his  brother-in- 
law,  and  you  are  proud  enough  to  be  a 
crowned  king  with  those  horns  on  your 
head." 

The  factor  and  the  keeper  expected  to 
see  blood  flow  for  those  insulting  words, 
but  on  the  contrary  Jeli  stood  stupefied,  as 
if  he  had  not  heard,  or  as  if  it  concerned 
him  not,  wearing  the  dull  face  of  an  ox 
whose  horns  really  fitted  him. 

Now  that  Easter  was  at  hand  the  factor 
sent  all  the  men  of  the  estate  to  confession, 
with  the  hope  that  through  the  fear  of  God 
they  would  not  do  any  more  stealing.  Jeli 
also  went,  and  at  the  church  entrance 
sought  for  the  boy  with  whom  he  had  ex- 
changed those  hot  words,  and  he  threw  his 
arms  around  his  neck,  saying,  — 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  91 

"The  confessor  has  bade  me  pardon 
you ;  but  I  am  not  angry  with  you  for  such 
gossip ;  and  if  you  will  not  steal  any  more 
of  the  cheese  from  me,  I  will  not  take  any 
further  notice  of  what  you  said  to  me  in 
passion." 

It  was  from  that  moment  that  they  nick- 
named him  Corno  d'ore  —  "  Gold  horns  "  — 
and  the  nickname  stuck  to  him  and  all  his, 
even  after  he  had  washed  his  horns  in  blood. 

La  Mara  also  went  to  confession  and  re- 
turned from  the  church  all  wrapped  up  in 
her  mantellina,  and  with  her  eyes  cast  down, 
so  that  she  seemed  a  genuine  Santa  Maria 
Maddelena.  Jeli,  who  was  silently  waiting 
for  her  on  the  balcony,  when  he  saw  her 
coming  in  that  way,  seeming  as  if  she  had 
the  Holy  Presence  in  her  heart,  kept  look- 
ing at  her,  —  pale,  pale  from  his  foot  to  his 
head  as  if  he  saw  her  for  the  first  time,  or 
as  if  his  Mara  had  been  changed  for  him, 
and  he  seemed  hardly  to  dare  .to  lift  his 
eyes  to  her  while  she  was  shaking  the  cloth 
and  setting  the  table,  calm  and  neat  as  ever. 


92          UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

Then  after  long  thinking  he  put  the 
question  to  her :  "  Is  it  true  that  you  keep 
company  with  Don  Alfonso  ? " 

Mara  looked  him  full  in  the  face  with 
those  black  eyes  of  hers  and  made  the  sign 
of  the  cross. 

"  Why  do  you  want  to  make  me  commit 
a  sin  on  this  day  ? "  she  demanded. 

"  I  did  not  believe  it,  because  Don  Al- 
fonso and  I  were  always  together  when  we 
were  boys,  and  there  never  passed  a  day 
that  he  did  not  come  to  Tebidi  when  he 
was  in  the  country  there ;  and  then  he  is 
rich,  and  has  bushels  of  money,  and  if  he 
wanted  women  he  might  get  married,  nor 
would  he  lack  anything,  either  clothes  to 
wear,  or  bread  to  eat." 

But  Mara  was  really  angry,  and  she  be- 
gan to  scold  so  that  the  poor  fellow  did  not 
dare  lift  his  nose  from  his  plate. 

At  last,  so  that  that  gift  of  God  which 
they  were  eating  might  not  turn  into  poison, 
Mara  changed  the  conversation,  and  asked 
him  if  he  had  thought  of  weeding  that  little 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  93 

plot  of  flax  which  they  had  sowed  in  the 
bean  field. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Jeli,  "  and  the  flax  will  do 
well." 

"  If  that  is  so,"  said  Mara,  "  this  spring 
I  will  make  you  two  new  shirts  which  will 
keep  you  warm." 

In  truth  Jeli  did  not  realize  what 
"cuckold"  meant,  and  he  did  not  know 
what  jealousy  was.  Every  new  thing  found 
difficulty  in  getting  into  his  head,  and  this 
became  so  great  that,  in  making  its  way  in, 
it  played  devilish  work,  especially  when  he 
saw  his  Mara  before  him  so  beautiful  and 
white  and  neat,  and  how  she  had  herself 
chosen  him,  and  how  he  had  thought  about 
her  so  many  years,  and  so  many  years,  ever 
since  he  was  a  young  boy,  so  that  the  day 
when  they  told  him  that  she  was  going  to 
marry  some  one  else,  he  had  had  no  heart 
to  eat  anything  or  to  drink  all  day  long. 

Then  again  he  thought  of  Don  Alfonso, 
who  had  been  his  companion  so  many 
times,  and  how  he  had  always  brought  him 


94          UNDER   THE   SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

strange  feeling  within  his  heart.  Don  Al- 
fonso had  grown  so  tall  that  he  no  longer 
seemed  the  same  person,  and  now  he  had 
a  full  beard,  curly  like  his  hair,  and  a  velvet 
coat  and  a  gold  chain  across  his  waistcoat. 
But  he  recognized  Jeli,  and  patted  him  on 
the  shoulder  in  salutation.  He  had  come 
with  the  padrone  of  the  estate  and  a  num- 
ber of  friends  to  have  a  jollification  while 
the  sheep-shearing  was  in  progress,  and 
Mara  also  came  unexpectedly,  under  the 
pretext  that  she  was  pregnant,  and  longed 
for  some  fresh  ricotto. 

It  was  a  beautiful  warm  day  in  the  pale 
fields,  with  the  grain  in  flower  and  the 
long  green  rows  of  the  vines ;  the  sheep 
were  gamboling  and  bleating  for  delight, 
at  feeling  themselves  freed  from  all  that 
weight  of  wool,  and  in  the  kitchen,  the 
women  had  made  a  great  fire  to  cook  all 
the  provisions  that  the  padrone  had  brought 
for  the  dinner. 

The  gentlemen,  while  they  were  waiting, 
had  sat  down  in  the  shade  under  the  carob- 


JELI,    THE   SHEPHERD.  95 

trees,  and  were  playing  tambourines  and 
bag-pipes,  and  dancing  with  the  girls  of 
the  estate,  as  if  they  were  all  of  the  same 
class. 

Jeli,  meantime,  went  on  with  his  work 
shearing  the  sheep,  and  felt  something 
within  him,  without  knowing  what,  like 
a  thorn,  like  a  nail,  like  a  pair  of  shears, 
working  within  him,  slowly,  slowly,  like  a 
poison. 

The  padrone  had  ordered  that  they 
should  kill  a  couple  of  goats,  and  the  year- 
ling sheep,  and  some  chickens,  and  a  tur- 
key cock.  In  fact,  he  was  going  to  do 
things  on  a  grand  scale,  and  lavishly,  so  as 
to  do  honor  to  his  friends ;  and  while  all 
those  creatures  were  squealing  under  the 
death-agony,  and  the  goats  were  screaming 
under  the  knife,  Jeli  felt  his  knees  tremble, 
and  little  by  little,  it  seemed  to  him  that 
the  wool  that  he  was  shearing,  and  the 
grass  in  which  the  sheep  were  leaping, 
were  stained  with  blood. 

"  Don't  go,"  he  said  to  Mara,  when  Don 


96          UNDER   THE   SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

Alfonso  called  her  to  come  and  dance  with 
the  rest.  "  Don't  go,  Mara." 

"  Why  not  ?  " 

"  I  don't  want  you  to  go.     Do  not  go." 

"  I  hear  them  calling  me." 

He  uttered  not  another  intelligible  word 
while  he  stayed  with  the  sheep  that  he  was 
shearing.  Mara  shrugged  her  shoulders, 
and  went  to  dance.  She  was  blushing 
with  delight,  and  her  two  black  eyes  shone 
like  two  stars,  and  she  smiled  so  that  there 
was  a  gleam  of  white  teeth,  and  all  the  gold 
ornaments  tossed  and  scintillated  on  her 
wrists  arid  on  her  bosom,  so  that  she 
seemed  like  the  Madonna  herself. 

Jeli  had  arisen  to  his  full  height,  with 
the  long  shears  in  his  hand,  and  white  in 
face,  as  white  as  once  he  had  seen  his 
father,  the  cowherd,  when  he  was  trembling 
with  fever  in  front  of  the  fire  in  the  hovel. 

Suddenly,  when  he  saw  how  Don  Alfonso, 
with  his  curling  beard  and  his  velvet  coat, 
and  the  gold  chain  at  his  waiscoat,  took 
Mara  by  the  hand  to  dance  —  then  —  only 


JELI,    THE    SHEPHERD.  97 

at  that  moment  that  he  touched  her  did  he 
fling  himself  on  him  and  cut  his  throat 
with  one  stroke,  as  if  he  had  been  a  goat. 

Later,  while  they  were  leading  him  off 
to  the  judge,  bound,  wholly  unmanned,  with- 
out daring  to  make  the  least  resistance,  — 

"  How,"  said  he,  "  should  I  not  have 
killed  him.  He  robbed  me  of  my  Mara !  " 


RUSTIC    CHIVALRY. 

(Cavalleria  Rusticana.) 


RUSTIC   CHIVALRY. 

(Cavalleria   Rusticana.) 

TURIDDU  MACCA,  gnd  Nunzia's 
son,  after  returning  from  the  army, 
used  every  Sunday  to  strut  like  a  peacock 
through  the  square  in  his  bersegliere  uni- 
form and  red  cap,  looking  like  the  fortune- 
teller as  he  sets  up  his  stand  with  his  cage 
of  canaries.  The  girls  on  their  way  to 
Mass  gave  stolen  glances  at  him  from  be- 
hind their  mantellinas,  and  the  urchins 
buzzed  round  him  like  flies. 

He  had  brought  back  with  him,  also,  a 
pipe  with  the  king  on  horseback  carved  so 
naturally  that  it  seemed  actually  alive,  and 
he  scratched  his  matches  on  the  seat  of  his 
trousers,  lifting  his  leg  as  if  he  were  going 
to  give  a  kick. 

But  in  spite  of  all  this,  Lola,  the  daughter 
of  massaro  Angelo,  had  not  shown  herself 
either  at  Mass  or  on  the  balcony,  for  the 


102        UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

reason  that  she  was  going  to  wed  a  man 
from  Licodia,  a  carter  who  had  four  Sortino 
mules  in  his  stable. 

At  first,  whenTuriddu  heard  about  it, 
santo  diavolone !  he  threatened  to  disem- 
bowel him,  threatened  to  kill  him  —  that 
fellow  from  Licodia !  But  he  did  nothing 
of  the  sort;  he  contented  himself  with 
going  under  the  fair  one's  window,  and 
singing  all  the  spiteful  songs  he  knew. 

"  Has  gna  Nunzia's  Turiddu  nothing  else 
to  do,"  asked  the  neighbors,  "except  spend- 
ing his  nights  singing  like  a  lone  sparrow  ? " 

At  length,  he  met  Lola  on  her  way  back 
from  the  pilgrimage  to  the  Madonna  del 
Pericolo,  and  when  she  saw  him,  she  turned 
neither  red  nor  white,  just  as  if  it  were 
none  of  her  affair  at  all. 

"Oh,  compare  Turiddu,  I  was  told  that 
you  returned  the  first  of  the  month." 

"  But  I  have  been  told  of  something  quite 
different !  "  replied  the  other.  "  Is  it  true 
that  you  are  to  marry  compare  Alfio,  the 
carter  ? " 


RUSTIC    CHIVALRY.  103 

"  Such  is  God's  will,"  replied  Lola,  draw- 
ing the  two  ends  of  her  handkerchief  under 
her  chin. 

"God's  will  in  your  case  is  done  with 
a  snap  and  a  spring ;  to  suit  yourself ! 
And  it  was  God's  will,  was  it,  that  I  should 
return  from  so  far  to  find  this  fine  state  of 
things,  gna  Lola ! " 

The  poor  fellow  still  tried  to  bluster,  but 
his  voice  grew  hoarse,  and  he  followed  the 
girl,  tossing  his  head  so  that  the  tassel  of 
his  cap  swung  from  side  to  side  on  his 
shoulders.  To  tell  the  truth,  she  felt  really 
sorry  to  see  him  wearing  such  a  long  face, 
but  she  had  not  the  heart  to  deceive  him 
with  fine  speeches. 

"Listen,  compare  Turiddu,"  she  said  to 
him  at  last,  "Let  me  join  my  friends. 
What  would  be  said  in  town  if  I  were  seen 
with  you  ? " 

"  You  are  right,"  replied  Turiddu,  "  Now 
that  you  are  going  to  marry  compare  Alfio, 
who  has  four  mules  in  his  stable,  it  is  best 
not  to  let  people's  tongues  wag  about  you. 


104        UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

But  my  mother,  poor  soul,  was  obliged  to 
sell  our  bay  mule,  and  that  little  plot  of 
vineyard  on  the  highway  while  I  was  off  in 
the  army.  The  time  '  when  Berta  spun,'  is 
over  and  gone,  and  you  no  longer  think  of 
the  time  when  we  used  to  talk  together 
from  the  window  looking  into  the  yard,  and 
you  gave  me  that  handkerchief  before  I 
went  away,  and  God  knows  how  many 
tears  I  shed  into  it  at  going  so  far  that 
even  the  name  of  our  place  is  lost !  So 
good-by,  gna  Lola,  —  Let's  pretend  it's 
rained  and  cleared  off,  and  our  friendship 
is  ended."* 

Gna  Lola  married  the  carter,  and  on 
Sundays  used  to  go  out  on  the  balcony 
with  her  hands  crossed  on  her  stomach,  to 
show  off  all  the  heavy  gold  rings  that  her 
husband  gave  to  her.  Turiddu  kept  'up  his 
habit  of  going  back  and  forth  through  the 
street  with  his  pipe  in  his  mouth,  his  hands 
in  his  pockets,  and  an  air  of  unconcern,  and 

*  Facemu  cuntu  ca  chioppi  e  scampau  e  la  nostra  ami- 
tizia  finiu. 


"LOLA    USED    TO    GO    OUT    ON    THE    BALCONY 
WITH    HER    HANDS    CROSSED." 


RUSTIC    CHIVALRY.  105 

ogling  the  girls;  but  it  gnawed  his  heart 
that  Lola's  husband  had  so  much  money, 
and  that  she  pretended  not  to  see  him  when 
he  passed. 

"  I  '11  get  even  with  her,  under  her  very 
eyes ;  the  vile  beast,"  he  muttered. 

Opposite  compare  Alfio  lived  massaro 
Cola,  the  vinedresser,  who  was  as  rich  as 
a  pig,  and  had  one  daughter  at  home. 
Turiddu  said  and  did  all  he  could  to 
become  massaro  Cola's  workman,  and  he 
began  to  frequent  the  house,  and  make 
sweet  speeches  to  the  girl. 

"  Why  don't  you  go  and  say  sweet  things 
to  gna  Lola  ? "  asked  Santa. 

"  Gna  Lola  is  a  fine  lady.  Gna  Lola 
has  married  a  crowned  king  now ! " 

"  I  don't  deserve  .crowned  kings ! " 

"You  are  worth  a  hundred  Lolas,  and 
I  know  some  one  who  would  n't  look  at  la 
gna  Lola  or  her  saint  when  you  are  by,  for 
gna  Lola  is  n't  worthy  to  wear  your  shoes, 
no,  she  is  n't !  " 

"  The  fox  when  he  could  n't  get  at  the 


106       UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

grapes  said,  *  How  beautiful  you  are,  raci- 
nedda  miaj  my  little  grape ! " 

"  Ohe  !  hands  off,  compare  Turiddu  !  " 

"  Are  you  afraid  that  I  will  eat  you  ? " 

"  I  'm  not  afraid  of  you  or  of  your 
God." 

"  Eh !  your  mother  was  from  Licodia, 
we  all  know  that !  You  have  quarrelsome 
blood.  Uh !  How  I  could  eat  you  with 
my  eyes ! " 

"  Eat  me  then  with  your  eyes,  for  we 
should  not  have  a  crumb  left,  but  mean- 
time help  me  up  with  this  bundle." 

"  I  would  lift  up  the  whole  house  for  you, 
yes,  I  would !  " 

She,  so  as  not  to  blush,  threw  at  him  a 
stick  of  wood  which  was  within  reach,  and 
by  a  miracle  did  n't  hit  him. 

"  Let's  have  done,  for  chattering'  never 
picked  grapes." 

"  If  I  were  rich  I  should  try  to  get  a  wife 
like  you,  gna  Santa." 

"  I  shall  never  marry  a  crowned  king  like 
gna  Lola,  but  I  have  my  dowry  as  well  as 


RUSTIC    CHIVALRY.  1 07 

she,  whenever  the  Lord  shall  send  me  any- 
one." 

"  We  know  you  are  rich,  we  know  it." 

"  If  you  know  it,  say  no  more,  for  father 
is  coming,  and  I  should  n't  like  to  have  him 
find  me  in  the  court-yard." 

The  old  father  began  to  turn  up  his  nose, 
but  the  girl  pretended  not  to  notice  it,  be- 
cause the  tassel  of  the  bersegliere's  cap  had 
set  her  heart  to  fluttering,  and  was  con- 
stantly dancing  before  her  eyes.  When 
the  babbo  put  Turiddu  out  of  the  house,  his 
daughter  opened  the  window  for  him,  and 
stood  chatting  with  him  all  the  evening 
long,  so  that  the  whole  neighborhood  talked 
of  nothing  else. 

"  I  'm  madly  in  love  with  you,"  said  Tu- 
riddu, "  and  I  am  losing  my  sleep  and  my 
appetite." 

"  How  absurd !  " 

"  I  wish  I  were  Victor  EmmanuePs  son, 
so  as  to  marry  you." 

"  How  absurd !  " 

"  By  the  Madonna,  I  would  eat  you  like 
bread ! " 


Io8       UNDER   THE   SHADOW   OF    ETNA. 

"  How  absurd ! " 

"  Ah  !  on  my  honor ! " 

"  Ah  !  mamma  mia  /" 

Lola,  who  was  listening  every  evening, 
hidden  behind  the  vase  of  basil,  and  turning 
red  and  white,  one  day  called  Turiddu :  — 

"  And  so,  compare  Turiddu,  old  friends 
don't  speak  to  each  other  any  more  ? " 

"Ma/"  sighed  the  young  man,  "blessed 
is  he  who  can  speak  to  you." 

"  If  you  have  any  desire  to  speak  to  me, 
you  know  where  I  live,"  replied  Lola. 

Turiddu  went  to  see  her  so  frequently 
that  Santa  noticed  it,  and  shut  the  window 
in  his  face.  The  neighbors  looked  at  him 
with  a  smile  or  with  a  shake  of  the  head 
when  the  bersegliere  passed.  Lola's  hus- 
band was  making  a  round  of  the  fairs  with 
his  mules. 

"  Sunday  I  am  going  to  confession,  for 
last  night  I  dreamed  of  black  grapes,"  said 
Lola. 

"  Put  it  off,  put  it  off  "  begged  Turiddu. 

"  No,  Easter  is  coming,  and  my  husband 


RUSTIC    CHIVALRY.  109 

will  want  to  know  why  I  have  n't  been  to 
confession." 

"Ah,"  murmured  massaro  Cola's  Santa, 
as  she  was  waiting  on  her  knees  before  the 
confessional  for  her  turn,  while  Lola  was 
making  a  clean  breast  of  her  sins.  "  On 
my  soul,  I  will  not  send  you  to  Rome  for 
your  punishment ! "  . 

Compare  Alfio  came  home  with  his 
mules ;  he  was  loaded  with  money,  and  he 
brought  to  his  wife  for  a  present,  a  hand- 
some new  dress  for  the  holidays. 

"  You  are  right  to  bring  her  gifts,"  said 
his  neighbor  Santa,  "  because  while  you  are 
away  your  wife  adorns  your  house  for  you." 

Compare  Alfio  was  one  of  those  carters 
who  wear  their  hats  over  one  ear,  and  when 
he  heard  his  wife  spoken  of  in  such  a  way 
he  changed  color  as  if  he  had  been  knifed. 

"  Santo  diavolone  ! "  he  exclaimed,  "  if 
you  haven't  seen  aright,  I  will  not  leave 
you  eyes  to  weep  with,  you  or  your  whole 
family." 

"  I   am  not  used  to  weeping ! "  replie4 


110       UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

Santa,  "  I  did  not  weep  even  when  I  saw 
with  these  eyes  gna  Nunzia's  Turiddu  going 
into  your  wife's  house  at  night ! " 

"  It  is  well,"  replied  compare  Alfio, 
"  many  thanks  ! " 

Turiddu,  now  that  the  cat  was  at  home, 
no  longer  went  out  on  the  street  by  day, 
and  he  whiled  away  the  tedium  at  the  inn 
with  his  friends ;  and  on  Easter  eve  they 
had  on  the  table  a  dish  of  sausages. 

When  compare  Alfio  came  in,  Turiddu 
realized,  merely  by  the  way  in  which  he 
fixed  his  eyes  on  him,  that  he  had  come  to 
settle  that  affair,  and  he  laid  his  fork  on  the 
plate. 

"  Have  you  any  commands  for  me,  com- 
pare Alfio  ? "  he  asked. 

"  No  favors  to  ask,  compare  Turiddu ; 
it 's  some  time  since  I  have  seen  you,  and 
I  wanted  to  speak  concerning  something 
you  know  about." 

Turiddu  at  first  had  offered  him  a  glass, 
but  compare  Alfio  refused  it  with  a  wave  of 
his  hand.  Then  Turiddu  got  up  and  said 
to  him,  — 


RUSTIC    CHIVALRY.  Ill 

"  Here  I  am,  compare  Alfio." 

The  carter  threw  his  arms  around  his 
neck. 

"  If  to-morrow  morning  you  will  come  to 
the  prickly  pears  of  la  Canziria,  we  can 
talk  that  matter  over,  compare" 

"  Wait  for  me  on  the  street  at  daybreak, 
and  we  will  go  together." 

With  these  words  they  exchanged  the 
kiss  of  defiance.  Turiddu  bit  the  carter's 
ear,  and  thus  made  the  solemn  oath  not  to 
fail  him. 

The  friends  had  silently  left  the  sau- 
sages, and  accompanied  Turiddu  to  his 
home.  Gna  Nunzia,  poor  creature,  waited 
for  him  till  late  every  evening. 

"Mamma,"  said  Turiddu,  "  do  you  re- 
member when  I  went  as  a  soldier,  that  you 
thought  I  should  never  come  back  any 
more?  Give  me  a  good  kiss  as  you  did 
then,  for  to-morrow  morning  I  am  going 
far  away." 

Before  daybreak  he  got  his  spring-knife, 
which  he  had  hidden  under  the  hay,  when 


112        UNDER   THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

he  had  gone  to  serve  his  time  in  the  army, 
and  started  for  the  prickly-pear  trees  of  la 
Canziria. 

"  Oh,  Gesummaria !  where  are  you  going 
in  such  haste  ! "  cried  Lola  in  great  appre- 
hension, while  her  husband  was  getting 
ready  to  go  out. 

"I  am  not  going  far,"  replied  compare 
Alfio.  "  But  it  would  be  better  for  you  if 
I  never  came  back." 

Lola  in  her  nightdress  was  praying  at  the 
foot  of  the  bed,  and  pressing  to  her  lips 
the  rosary  which  Fra  Bernardino  had 
brought  to  her  from  the  Holy  places,  and 
reciting  all  the  Ave  Marias  that  she  could 
say. 

"  Compare  Alfio,"  began  Turiddu,  after  he 
had  gone  a  little  distance  by  the  side  of 
his  companion,  who  walked  in  silence  with 
his  cap  down  over  his  eyes,  "  as  God  is 
true  I  know  that  I  have  done  wrong,  and  I 
should  let  myself  be  killed.  But  before  I 
came  out,  I  saw  my  old  mother,  who  got 
up  to  see  me  off,  under  the  pretence  of 


RUSTIC    CHIVALRY.  113 

tending  the  hens.     Her  heart  had  a  pre- 
sentiment, and  as  the  Lord  is  true,  I  will  • 
kill  you  like  a  dog,  so  that  my  poor  old 
mother  may  not  weep." 

"All  right,"  replied  compare  Alfio,  strip- 
ping off  his  waistcoat.  "Then  we  will 
both  of  us  hit  hard." 

Both  of  them  were  skilful  fencers.  Tu- 
riddu  was  first  struck,  and  was  quick 
enough  to  receive  it  in  the  arm.  When 
he  returned  it,  he  returned  it  well,  and 
wounded  the  other  in  the  groin. 

"  Ah,  compare  Turiddu !  so  you  really 
intend  to  kill  me,  do  you  ? " 

"  Yes,  I  gave  you  fair  warning ;  since  I 
saw  my  old  mother  in  the  hen-yard,  it 
seems  to  me  I  have  her  all  the  time  before 
my  eyes." 

"Keep  them  well  open,  those  eyes  of 
yours,"  cried  compare  Alfio,  "for  I  am  go- 
ing to  give  you  back  good  measure." 

As  he  stood  on  guard,  all  doubled  up,  so 
as  to  keep  his  left  hand  on  his  wound, 
which  pained  him,  and  almost  trailing  his 


114       UNDER   THE   SHADOW   OF    ETNA. 

elbow  on  the  ground,  he  swiftly  picked  up 
a  handful  of  dust,  and  flung  it  into  his  ad- 
versary's eyes. 

"Ah!"  screamed  Turiddu,  blinded,  "I 
am  dead." 

He  tried  to  save  himself,  by  making  des- 
perate leaps  backwards,  but  compare  Alfio 
overtook  him  with  another  thrust  in  the 
stomach,  and  a  third  in  the  throat. 

"  And  that  makes  three !  that  is  for  the 
house  which  you  have  adorned  for  me ! 
Now  your  mother  will  let  the  hens  alone." 

Turiddu  staggered  a  short  distance 
among  the  prickly  pears,  and  then  fell  like 
a  stone.  The  blood  foaming,  gurgled  in 
his  throat,  and  he  could  not  even  cry, 
"  Ah  !  mamma  mia  /" 


LA  LUPA. 


LA   LUPA. 

SHE  was  tall  and  lean ;  but  she  had  a 
firm,  full  bust,  and  yet  she  was  no 
longer  young;  her  complexion  was  bru- 
nette, but  pallid  as  if  she  had  always  suf- 
fered from  malaria,  and  this  pallor  set  forth 
two  big  eyes  and  fresh  rosy  lips  that  seemed 
to  eat  you. 

In  the  village  she  was  called  la  Lupa  — 
the  She- Wolf  —  because  she  was  never 
satisfied.  Women  made  the  sign  of  the 
cross  when  they  saw  her  pass,  always  alone 
like  a  big  ugly  hound,  with  the  vagabond 
and  suspicious  gait  of  a  famished  wolf ;  she 
would  bewitch  their  sons  and  their  hus- 
bands in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  with  her 
red  lips  and  she  made  them  fall  in  love 
with  her  merely  by  looking  at  them  out  of 
those  big  Satanic  eyes  of  hers,  even  if  they 
were  before  Santa  Agrippina's  altar. 
117 


Il8       UNDER    THE   SHADOW   OF    ETNA. 

Fortunately  la  Lupa  never  came  to 
church  at  Easter  or  at  Christmas,  nor  to 
hear  Mass  or  to  make  confession.  Padre 
Angiolino  of  Santa  Maria  di  Gesii,  a  true 
servant  of  God,  had  lost  his  soul  on  her 
account. 

Maricchia,  —  poor  girl,  pretty  and  clever 
she  was,  —  secretly  wept  because  she  was 
la  Luprfs  daughter,  and  no  one  had  offered 
to  marry  her  though  she  had  nice  clothes 
in  her  bureau,  and  her  own  little  piece  of 
land  in  the  sun,  like  every  other  girl  of  the 
village. 

One  time  la  Lupa  fell  in  love  with  a 
handsome  youth  who  had  just  served  out 
his  time  in  the  army,  and  had  come  home 
and  was  helping  to  reap  the  notary's  har- 
vest with  her ;  for  surely  it  means  to  be  in 
love  when  she  felt  the  flesh  burn  under  the 
fustian  shift,  and  on  looking  at  him  to  ex- 
perience the  thirst  that  one  has  in  hot  June 
days  down  in  the  low-lands. 

But  he  went  on  with  his  work,  undis- 
turbed, with  his  nose  on  his  sheaves,  and 


LA    LUPA.  119 

he  said  to  her,  "  Oh,  what  's  the  matter, 


In  the  immense  fields  where  the  only 
sound  was  the  rustle  of  the  grasshoppers 
flying  up,  while  the  sun  was  pouring  down 
his  hottest  beams  perpendicularly,  la  Lupa 
was  heaping  up  sheaf  on  sheaf,  and  pile  on 
pile,  without  ever  showing  any  signs  of 
fatigue,  without  one  moment  straightening 
herself  up,  without  once  touching  her  lips 
to  the  water  jug,  so  as  to  stick  close  to 
Nanni's  heels  as  he  reaped  and  reaped  ; 
and  now  and  again  he  would  ask,  — 

"  What  do  you  want,  gna  Pin  a  ?  " 

One  evening  she  told  him,  it  was  while 
the  men  were  sleeping  in  the  threshing- 
floor,  weary  of  the  long  day's  work  and  the 
dogs  were  howling  through  the  vast  black 
campagna,  — 

"  I  want  you  !  you  are  as  handsome  as  the 
sun  and  as  sweet  as  honey  ;  I  want  you  !  " 

"  But  I  want  your  daughter  —  I  want  the 
young  calf,"  said  Nanni,  laughing  at  his 
own  joke. 


120       UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

La  Lupa  thrust  her  hands  into  the  masses 
of  her  hair,  scratching  her  temples,  without 
saying  a  word,  and  went  off  and  was  not 
seen  again  in  the  harvest  field.  But  the 
following  October  she  saw  Nanni  again  at 
the  time  when  they  were  pressing  the  oil, 
because  he  worked  near  her  house,  and  the 
rattle  of  the  press  kept  her  awake  all  night. 

"  Take  a  bag  of  olives,"  she  said  to  her 
daughter,  "  and  come  with  me." 

Nanni  was  shoveling  the  olives  into  the 
hopper  and  shouting  "  Ohi "  to  the  mule  to 
keep  it  going. 

"  Do  you  want  my  daughter  Maricchia  ?  " 
demanded  gna  Pina. 

"What  dowry  will  you  give  with  your 
daughter  Maricchia  ? "  replied  Nanni. 

"  She  has  her  father's  things,  and  be- 
sides I  will  give  her  my  house;  it 'will  be 
enough  for  me  if  you  '11  let  me  have  a  cor- 
ner in  the  kitchen  to  spread  out  a  mattress 
in." 

"  If  that  is  so,  we  can  talk  about  it  at 
Christmas,"  said  Nanni.  Nanni  was  all 


LA    LUPA.  121 

grease  and  dirt  from  the  olives  put  to  fer- 
menting, and  Maricchia  would  not  have 
him  on  any  account ;  but  her  mother 
grabbed  her  by  the  hair  as  they  stood  in 
front  of  the  hearth  and  hissed  through  her 
set  teeth,— 

"  If  you  don't  take  him,  I  '11  kill  you." 

La  Lupa  looked  ill,  and  the  people  re- 
marked :  "  When  the  devil  was  old  the 
devil  a  monk  would  be."  She  no  longer 
went  wandering  about ;  she  stood  no  more 
at  her  doorway  looking  out  with  those  eyes 
as  of  one  possessed. 

Her  son-in-law,  when  she  fixed  those  eyes 
on  his  face,  always  began  to  laugh,  and 
would  pull  out  his  cloth  talisman,  with  its 
effigy  of  the  Madonna,  to  cross  himself  with. 

Maricchia  stayed  at  home  to  nurse  her 
children,  and  her  mother  went  out  to  work  in 
the  fields  with  the  men,  just  like  a  man,  — 
to  weed,  to  dig,  to  guide  the  animals,  to 
dress  the  vines,  whether  it  were  during  the 
Greek-Levant  winds  *  of  January,  or  during 

*  North-east. 


122       UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

the  August  sirocco,  when  mules  let  their 
heads  droop,  and  men  sleep  prone  on  their 
bellies  under  the  shadow  of  the  North  wall. 

In  that  time  between  vespers  and  nones, 
when,  according  to  the  saying,  no  good 
woman  is  seen  going  about,  gna  Pina  was 
the  only  living  creature  to  be  seen  wander- 
ing across  the  campagna,  over  the  fiery  hot 
stones  of  the  narrow  streets,  among  the 
parched  stubble  of  the  wide,  wide  fields 
that  stretched  away  into  the  burning  haze 
toward  cloudy  Etna,  where  the  sky  hangs 
heavy  on  the  horizon. 

"  Wake  up  !  "  said  la  Lupa  to  Nanni,  who 
was  asleep  in  the  ditch  next  the  dusty 
harvest-field,  with  his  head  on  his  arms. 
"  Wake  up,  for  I  've  brought  you  some  wine 
to  cool  your  throat." 

Nanni  opened  his  eyes,  half  awake,  and 
saw  her  sitting  up  straight  and  pale  before 
him,  with  her  swelling  breast,  and  her  eyes 
as  black  as  coal,  and  drew  back  waving  his 
arms,  — 

"  No  !  a  good  woman  does  not  go  about 


LA    LUPA.  123 

between  vespers  and  nones/'  groaned 
Nanni,  thrusting  his  face  in  amongst  the 
dried  weeds  of  the  ditch  as  far  as  he  could, 
and  putting  his  ringers  into  his  hair.  "  Go 
away !  Get  you  gone !  And  don't  you 
come  to  the  threshing-floor  any  more." 

She  turned  and  went  away,  —  la  Lupa, 

—  knotting  up  her  splendid  tresses  again, 

looking  down  steadily  as  she  made  her  way 

among  the  hot  stubble,  with  her  eyes  black 

as  coal. 

But  she  did  go  back  to  the  threshing- 
floor,  and  Nanni  no  longer  reproached  her ; 
and  when  she  failed  to  come,  in  that  hour 
between  vespers  and  nones,  he  went,  and 
with  perspiration  on  his  brow,  waited  for 
her  at  the  top  of  the  white  deserted  foot- 
path, but  afterwards  he  would  thrust  his 
hands  through  his  hair,  and  every  time  he 
would  say,  "  Go  away  !  Go  away !  Don't 
come  to  the  threshing-floor  again." 

Maricchia  wept  night  and  day,  and  she 
looked  into  her  mother's  face  with  eyes 
blazing  with  tears  and  jealousy,  like  a  lu- 


124       UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

pachiotta,  a  young  wolf  herself,  every  time 
that  she  saw  her  coming  back  from  the 
fields,  silent  and  pale. 

"Vile!  scellerata!"  she  would  say,  "Vile 
mamma." 

"  Hold  your  tongue !  " 

"Thief!  thief!" 

"  Hold  your  tongue  ! " 

"  I  '11  go  to  the  brigadiere  f"  * 

And  she  actually  went  with  her  infants 
in  her  arms,  without  a  sign  of  fear,  and 
without  shedding  a  tear,  like  a  crazy 
woman,  because  now  she  passionately 
loved  that  husband  whom  she  had  been 
forced  to  marry,  greasy  and  dirty  as  he 
was  from  the  olives  set  to  fermenting. 

The  brigadiere  summoned  Nanni,  and 
threatened  him  with  the  galleys  and  the 
gallows.  Nanni  began  to  weep,  and  pull 
his  hair ;  he  denied  nothing,  did  not  try  to 
justify  himself." 

"The   temptation  was  too  much,"  said 

*  Brigadiere  is  the  station  or  the  Commandant  of  the 
detachment  of  the  Carabaneers  in  a  small  town. 


LA    LUPA.  125 

he,  "'twas  the  temptation  of  hell."  He 
flung  himself  at  the  brigadiere 's  feet,  beg- 
ging him  to  send  him  to  the  galleys. 

"  For  mercy's  sake,  Signer  brigadiere,  take 
me  out  of  this  hell !  Have  me  shot !  Send 
me  to  prison  !  Don't  let  me  see  her  ever 
again  !  never  again !  " 

"  No,"  replied  la  Lupa,  to  the  briga- 
dier^ s  question.  "  I  kept  a  corner  of  the 
kitchen  to  sleep  in  when  I  gave  him  my 
house  as  my  daughter's  dowry.  The  house 
is  mine.  I  do  not  intend  to  go  away." 

Shortly  after,  Nanni  was  kicked  in  the 
chest  by  a  mule,  and  was  like  to  die ;  but  the 
priest  refused  to  bring  him  the  Holy  Unction 
unless  la  Lupa  was  out  of  the  house. 

La  Lupa  went  away,  and  her  son-in-law 
was  then  permitted  to  pass  away  like  a 
good  Christian ;  he  confessed  and  partook 
of  the  Sacrament  with  such  signs  of  peni- 
tence and  contrition  that  all  the  neighbors 
and  inquisitive  visitors  wept  as  they  sur- 
rounded the  dying  man's  bed. 

And  it  would  have  been  better  for  him 


126       UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

if  he  had  died  then  and  there,  before  the 
devil  had  a  chance  to  return  to  tempt  him, 
and  take  possession  of  him,  mind  and  body, 
when  he  got  well  again. 

"Let  me  be !  "  he  said  to  la  Lupa\  "for 
mercy's  sake,  leave  me  in  peace  !  I  have 
seen  death  with  my  own  eyes !  Poor 
Maricchia  is  in  despair.  Now  the  whole 
region  knows  about  it!  If  I  don't  see 
you,  it 's  better  for  you  and  better  for  me." 

And  he  would  rather  have  put  his  eyes 
out,  than  see  la  Lupa's,  for  when  hers  were 
fastened  on  him,  they  made  him  lose  soul 
and  body.  He  did  not  know  what  to  do  to 
overcome  the  enchantment.  He  paid  for 
Masses  to  be  sung  for  the  souls  in  Purga- 
tory, and  he  went  for  aid  to  the  priest  and 
the  brigadiere.  At  Easter  he  went  to  con- 
fession, and  as  a  penance,  publicly  stood 
on  the  flint  stones  of  the  holy  ground  in 
front  of  the  church,  putting  out  six  hand- 
breadths  of  tongue,  and  then,  when  la  Lupa 
returned  to  tempt  him, — 

"  See  here,"  said  he,  "  don't  you  come  on 


LA    LUPA.  127 

the  threshing-floor  again,  because  if  you 
do  come  to  seek  me  again,  as  sure  as  God 
exists,  I  '11  kill  you." 

"All  right,  kill  me!"  replied  la  Lupa. 
"  It  makes  no  difference  to  me ;  but  I 
can  not  live  without  you." 

When  he  saw  her  afar  off  coming 
through  the  green  corn  field,  he  left  off 
pruning  the  vines,  and  went  and  got  his 
axe  from  the  elm. 

La  Lupa  saw  him  coming  to  meet  her, 
with  his  face  pale  and  his  eyes  rolling 
wildly,  with  the  axe  shining  in  the  sun ;  but 
she  did  not  hesitate  an  instant,  did  not 
look  away.  She  went  straight  forward 
with  her  hands  full  of  bunches  of  red  pop- 
pies, and  devouring  him  with  those  black 
eyes  of  hers. 

"  Ah  !  a  curse  on  your  soul !  "  stammered 
Nanni. 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  ST.  JOSEPH'S 

ASS. 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  ST.  JOSEPH'S 

ASS. 

THEY  had  bought  it  at  the  Fair  of 
Buccheri  when  it  was  still  a  young 
colt,  and  if  it  caught  sight  of  a  she  ass,  it 
would  run  to  it  and  try  to  nurse  ;  for  this 
reason,  it  had  got  blows  and  kicks  on  its 
rump,  and  it  was  all  in  vain  for  them  to 
shout  "  arricca  "  —  get  up  —  to  it. 

Compare  Neli,  when  he  saw  how  lively 
and  obstinate  it  was,  and  how  it  licked  its 
nostrils  when  the  blows  fell,  and  how  it 
kept  wagging  its  ears,  said, — 

"  That 's  the  one  for  me." 

And  he  went  straight  up  to  the  pro- 
prietor, with  his  hand  in  his  pocket  on 
thirty-five  lire. 

"The  colt  is  handsome,"  said  the  pro- 
prietor, "  and  is  worth  more  than  thirty-five 
lire.  No  matter  if  it  has  a  white  and  black 
131 


132        UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

skin  like  a  magpie.  There,  I  '11  show  you 
its  mother;  we  keep  her  over  yonder  in 
that  little  grove,  because  the  colt's  all  the 
time  wanting  to  nurse.  You  shall  see 
what  a  pretty  dark  hide  it's  got!  Why, 
she  does  more  work  for  me  than  a  mule 
would,  and  has  given  me  more  colts  than 
she  has  hairs  on  her  back.  My  con- 
science !  I  don't  know  where  this  colt  got 
its  magpie  coat.  But  it  is  well  built,  I  tell 
you.  Even  men  aren't  judged  by  their 
moustaches.  Look,  what  a  chest !  and 
what  thick,  solid  legs  !  See  how  it  holds 
its  ears.  An  ass  that  holds  its  ears  up  like 
that  can  be  put  in  a  cart  or  to  a  plow  as 
you  please,  and  it  will  carry  four  bushels  of 
corn  better  than  a  mule,  I  swear  it  will  — 
by  all  the  saints.  Just  feel  that  tail  — 
strong  enough  to  hold  up  you  and  all  your 
kith  and  kin." 

Compare  Neli  knew  that  as  well  as  the 
other,  but  he  wasn't  dunce  enough  to  say 
so,  and  he  stood  with  his  hand  in  his 
pocket,  shrugging  his  shoulders  and  mak- 


THE   STORY  OF   THE    ST.   JOSEPH'S   ASS.    133 

ing  grimaces  while  the  proprietor  of  the 
colt  made  it  turn  round  before  them. 

"  Huh !  "  grunted  compare  Neli,  "  with  a 
skin  like  that,  it  looks  like  Saint  Joseph's 
ass.  Animals  of  that  color  are  always 
vigliacche*  and  when  you  ride  them  about, 
people  laugh  in  your  face.  Am  I  going  to 
be  made  a  laughing  stock  for  a  Saint 
Joseph's  ass  ? " 

It  was  the  padrone's  turn  to  turn  his 
back  on  him  in  a  passion,  screaming  that 
some  people  didn't  know  a  good  animal 
when  they  saw  one,  and  if  they  had  n't  any 
money  to  buy  with,  they  'd  better  not  come 
to  the  fair,  and  waste  good  Christian's 
time  —  on  a  saint's  day,  too. 

Compare  Neli  let  him  fume  away,  and  he 
went  off  with  his  brother,  who  pulled  the 
sleeve  of  his  jacket,  and  whispered  in  his 
ear,  that  if  he  was  going  to  throw  away  his 
money  on  that  good-for-nothing  animal  he 
would  deserve  to  be  kicked. 

While  the  padrone  pretended  to  be  shel- 

•     *  Cowardly,  ridiculous,  vile. 


134       UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

ling  some  young  beans,  holding  the  halter 
between  his  legs,  compare  Neli,  not  really 
losing  sight  of  the  Saint  Joseph's  ass,  went 
off  on  a  tour  of  inspection  among  the  mules 
and  horses,  now  and  again  stopping  to 
criticise  or  even  haggle  over  the  price  of 
this  one  or  of  that  among  the  better  ani- 
mals ;  but  he  did  not  open  his  hand,  which 
still  clasped  safely  in  his  pocket  the  thirty- 
five  lire  as  if  it  were  going  to  buy  half  the 
fair.  But  his  brother  kept  telling  him  in  a 
whisper,  pointing  to  the  ass,  which  they 
called  Saint  Joseph's, — 

"  That  Js  the  one  for  us." 

The  ass's  mistress,  every  once  in  a  while, 
came  over  to  her  husband  to  see  how  busi- 
ness was  progressing,  and  when  she  saw 
him  sitting  with  the  halter  in  his  hand,  she 
said, — 

"  Is  n't  the  Madonna  going  to  send  a 
purchaser  for  the  foal,  to-day  ? " 

And  the  husband  would  always  reply  in 
these  terms, — 

"  None  yet !     One 's  been  here  bargain- 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   ST.   JOSEPH'S   ASS.    135 

ing,  and  he  liked  it.  But  he  objected  to 
the  price,  and  went  off  again  with  the 
money  in  his  pocket.  There  he  is,  over 
yonder  with  the  white  cap,  beyond  that 
flock  of  sheep.  He  hasn't  bought  any- 
thing yet;  that  means,  he'll  be  back 
again." 

The  woman  was  about  to  squat  down  on 
a  couple  of  stones  near  her  foal,  to  see 
whether  it  would  be  sold  or  not.  But  her 
husband  said  to  her, — 

"Off  with  you.  If  they  see  you  are 
waiting,  they  won't  finish  the  bargain." 

Meantime  the  foal  was  nosing  about 
between  the  legs  of  several  she-asses  that 
were  passing  by.  It  wanted  to  nurse,  for 
it  was  half  starved.  It  was  just  opening 
its  mouth  to  bray  when  the  padrone  re- 
duced it  to  silence  by  a  shower  of  blows 
because  they  had  not  wanted  it. 

"It's  still  there,"  said  compare  Neli  in 
his  brother's  ear,  pretending  to  turn  round 
and  look  for  something.  "  If  we  wait  till 
the  Ave  Maria,  we  may  be  able  to  get  it  for 


136       UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

five  lire  cheaper  than  the  price  that  we 
offered." 

The  May  sunshine  was  warm  so  that 
gradually  amid  all  the  noise  and  bustle  of 
the  fair  a  great  silence  followed  throughout 
the  whole  field,  as  if  no  one  were  there: 
then  it  was  that  the  mistress  of  the  young 
ass  came  to  her  husband  again  and  said : 

"  I  would  n't  hold  out  for  five  lire  more 
or  less,  for  to-night  we  have  not  enough  to 
buy  our  supper  and  you  know  well  that  the 
foal  will  eat  his  head  off  in  a  month  if  he 
remains  on  our  hands." 

"  If  you  don't  go  off,"  replied  her  hus- 
band, "  I'll  give  you  a  kick  that  you'll 
remember." 

Thus  passed  the  hours  at  the  fair ;  but 
of  all  those  who  passed  in  front  of  the 
Saint  Joseph's  ass  not  one  stopped  to  look 
at  it,  and  that,  too,  though  the  padrone  had 
chosen  the  most  humble  place  near  the 
animals  of  small  value,  so  that  with  its 
magpie  skin  it  might  not  be  compared 


THE  STORY   OF   THE    ST.    JOSEPH'S   ASS.    137 

with  the  beautiful  bay  mules  and  the  sleek 
horses !  Some  one  like  compare  Neli  was 
wanted  to  buy  his  Saint  Joseph's  ass,  at 
the  sight  of  which  every  one  at  the  fair 
was  laughing. 

The  colt,  after  such  a  long  waiting  in 
the  sun,  let  his  head  and  ears  hang  down ; 
his  padrone  went  and  squatted  on  the 
stones,  with  his  hands  also  hanging  be- 
tween his  knees  and  the  halter  in  his 
hands,  gazing  at  the  long  shadows  that 
began  to  be  cast  across  the  plain  from 
the  sun,  which  was  preparing  to  set,  and 
at  the  legs  of  all  those  animals  that  had 
not  as  yet  found  purchasers. 

Just  then  compare  Neli  and  his  brother, 
and  a  friend  of  theirs  whom  they  had 
picked  up  for  the  occasion,  came  saunter- 
ing by,  with  their  noses  in  the  air ;  but  the 
owner  of  the  young  ass  turned  his  head 
aside  so  as  not  to  seem  to  be  on  the  look 
out  for  them.  And  compare  Neli's  friend, 
squinting  up  his  eyes,  remarked  as  if  the 
idea  had  just  occurred  to  him : 


138       UNDER   THE   SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

"  O,  see  that  Saint  Joseph's  ass !  Why 
don't  you  buy  that  one,  compare  Neli  ? " 

"  I  bargained  it  this  morning ;  but  he 
asks  too  much  for  it.  Besides,  I  should  be 
the  laughing  stock  of  the  town  if  I  were 
seen  with  that  black  and  white  beast. 
You  see  no  one  has  had  a  thought  of 
buying  it  so  far." 

"That's  so,  but  the  color  makes  no 
difference  in  the  use  that  you  make  of 
one." 

And  turning  to  the  padrone  he  asked,  — 

"  How  much  must  we  pay  for  that  Saint 
Joseph's  ass  of  yours  ? " 

The  mistress  of  the  Saint  Joseph's  ass, 
seeing  that  the  business  was  on  once  more, 
had  quietly  approached,  with  her  hands 
clasped  under  her  apron. 

"  Don't  speak  to  me  of  it,"  cried  compare 
Neli  making  off  across  the  field.  "  Don't 
speak  of  it  again,  I  don't  want  to  hear  a 
word." 

"  If  you  don't  want  it,  let  it  be,"  replied 
the  padrone.  "If  he  does  not  take  it, 


THE  STORY  OF    THE   ST.   JOSEPH'S    ASS.    139 

some  one  else  will.  '  A  sad  wretch  is  he 
who  has  nothing  left  to  sell  after  the  fair.' " 

"And  I  will  be  heard,  santo  diavolone!" 
screamed  the  friend.  "Can't  I  be  per- 
mitted to  have  my  say  ?  " 

And  he  ran  and  caught  compare  Neli  by 
the  jacket,  then  he  came  back  and  whis- 
pered something  in  the  padrone's  ear  as  the 
man  was  about  to  return  home  with  his 
young  ass,  and  he  flung  his  arm  round  his 
neck,  murmuring,— 

"  Look  here !  five  lire  more  or  less,  and 
if  you  don't  sell  it  to-day  you  won't  find 
another  blunderhead  like  my  compare  to 
buy  a  beast,  which  between  you  and  me, 
is  n't  worth  a  cigar !  " 

He  also  embraced  the  young  ass's  mis- 
tress, whispered  in  her  ear  to  win  her  to  his 
way  of  thinking.  But  she  shrugged  her 
shoulders  and  replied  with  stern  face,  — 

"  'T  is  my  husband's  business :  I  don't 
mix  myself  in  it.  But  if  he  lets  it  go  for 
less  than  forty  lire  he  is  a  dunce,  and  that 's 
what  I  say.  It  cost  us  more  than  that." 


140       UNDER   THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

"  This  morning  I  was  crazy  when  I  of- 
fered him  thirty-five  lire"  resumed  compare 
Neli.  "  Has  he  found  any  other  purchaser 
even  at  that  price  ?  I  reckon  not.  In  the 
whole  fair  there  aren't  more  than  four 
scabby  rams  and  the  Saint  Joseph's  ass. 
I'll  give  thirty  lire  if  he  '11  take  it." 

"Take  it,"  softly  whispered  the  young 
ass's  mistress  to  her  husband,  and  the  tears 
came  into  her  eyes.  "We  haven't  made 
enough  this  evening  to  buy  our  supper,  and 
Turiddu  has  the  fever  again ;  he  '11  have  to 
have  quinine." 

"  Santo  diavolone ! "  screamed  her  hus- 
band, "  if  you  don't  get  away  from  here  I  '11 
give  you  a  taste  of  this  halter." 

"  Thirty-two  and  a  half,  there  now ! " 
cried  the  friend  at  last,  giving  him  a  power- 
ful shake  to  the  collar. 

"  Neither  you  nor  I !  This  time  my  ad- 
vice ought  to  hold,  by  all  the  saints  in  para- 
dise !  and  I  don't  even  ask  for  a  glass  of 
wine.  Don't  you  see  the  sun  is  set  ?  What 
is  the  use  of  you  both  holding  out  any 
longer?" 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   ST.   JOSEPH'S   ASS.    141 

And  he  snatched  the  halter  from  the  pa- 
drone's hand,  while,  at  the  same  time,  compare 
Neli  with  an  oath  took  out  of  his  pocket  his 
closed  fist  clutching  the  thirty-five  lire,  and 
gave  them  to  the  man  without  looking  at 
them  as  if  they  took  his  liver  with  them. 
The  friend  retired  to  one  side  with  the  mis- 
tress of  the  young  ass  to  count  over  the 
money  on  a  rock,  while  the  padrone  went 
off  to  another  part  of  the  fair  like  a  colt, 
cursing  and  beating  himself  with  his  fists. 

But  when  he  was  at  last  rejoined  by  his 
wife,  who  was  carefully  recounting  the 
money  in  her  handkerchief,  he  demanded, — 

"  Have  you  got  it  ? " 

"  Yes,  the  whole  of  it ;  praised  be  San 
Gaetano !  *  Now  I'll  go  to  the  apothe- 
cary's." 

"  I  got  the  best  of  them !  I'd  have  let 
them  have  the  beast  for  twenty  lire ;  asses 
of  that  color  are  vigliacchi — vile." 

And  compare  Neli,  as  he  got  behind  th§ 
ass  to  drive  it  off,  said, — 

*  The  especial  saint  of  the  Provident. 


142        UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

"  As  God  exists  I  robbed  him  of  the  colt ! 
The  color  makes  no  difference.  See  what 
solid  legs,  compare!  That  beast  is  worth 
forty  lire  with  one's  eyes  shut." 

"If  it  had  not  been  for  me,"  returned 
the  friend,  "  you  would  not  have  struck  the 
bargain.  Here  are  still  two  lire  and  a  half 
of  your  money.  And  if  you  don't  object 
we  will  go  and  have  a  drink  to  the  health 
of  the  ass ! 

Now  the  colt  needed  to  have  its  health 
in  order  to  repay  the  thirty-two  and  a  half 
lire  which  had  been  paid  for  it,  and  the 
straw  which  it  ate.  Meanwhile  it  was  con- 
tented to  frisk  behind  compare  Neli,  trying 
to  bite  his  new  padrone's  coat  tails,  and  mak- 
ing no  ado  because  it  was  leaving  forever 
the  stall  where  it  had  been  sheltered  by  its 
mother's  side,  free  to  rub  its  nose  on  the 
edge  of  the  manger,  or  to  gambol  and  cut 
up  capers,  butting  with  the  ram  or  going  to 
rub  the  pig's  back  in  its  pen. 

And  the  padrone,  who  was  still  again 
counting  over  the  money  in  her  handker- 


THE   STORY   OF    THE   ST.   JOSEPH'S   ASS.    143 

chief  before  the  apothecary's  counter,  had 
on  her  side  no  regrets,  although  she  had 
assisted  at  the  birth  of  the  foal  with  its 
black  and  white  skin,  as  shiny  as  silk,  and 
which  could  not  at  first  stand  up  on  its 
legs,  but  lay  in  the  warm  sun  in  the  court- 
yard while  all  the  grass  which  had  made  it 
grow  so  big  and  strong  had  passed  through 
her  hands ! 

The  only  person  who  missed  the  foal  was 
its  mother,  who  stretched  out  her  neck 
toward  the  entrance  of  the  stall  and  brayed. 
But  when  her  udder  was  no  longer  pain- 
fully distended  with  the  milk,  she  also  for- 
got  about  the  foal. 

"  Now  you  will  see,"  said  compare  Neli, 
"that  this  ass  will  carry  four  bushels  of 
corn  better  than  a  mule,  for  me." 

And  at  harvest  time  he  was  set  to 
threshing. 

At  the  threshing,  the  colt,  fastened  by 
the  neck,  in  a  row  with  other  animals 
—  worn  out  mules,  decrepit  horses,  paced 
over  the  sheaves,  from  morning  till  night, 


144       UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

so  that  when  it  was  brought  back  to  the 
stable,  he  was  so  tired  that  he  had  no 
desire  to  bite  at  the  heap  of  straw  where 
they  put  him  up  in  the  shade  when  the 
wind  blew,  while  the  peasants  did  their 
winnowing  with  shouts  of  "  Viva  Maria!" 

Then  he  let  his  nose  hang  down  and 
drooped  his  pendent  ears,  like  a  full-fledged 
ass  with  eyes  dulled,  as  if  he  were  weary  of 
gazing  across  over  that  vast  plain,  smoking 
here  and  there  with  the  dust  of  the  thresh- 
ing-floors, and  he  seemed  made  for  nothing 
else  than  to  die  of  thirst  and  enforced 
treading  on  sheaves. 

At  eventide,  it  was  sent  to  the  village 
with  the  saddle-bags  filled  full,  and  the 
padrone's  boy  followed,  to  prick  it  in  the 
withers,  along  the  hedges  lining  the  road, 
that  seemed  alive  with  the  chattering  of 
the  tomtits,  and  the  odor  of  the  catnip  and 
rosemary ;  and  the  ass  would  gladly  have 
snatched  a  mouthful,  if  they  had  not 
always  kept  it  on  the  go,  until  at  last,  the 
blood  ran  to  its  legs  and  they  had  to  take 


THE    STORY   OF    THE    ST.   JOSEPH'S    ASS.    145 

it  to  the  farrier;  but  this  did  not  trouble 
\hzpadrone,  because  the  harvest  was  good, 
and  the  young  ass  had  earned  its  cost,  — 
his  thirty-two  lire  and  a  half.     The  padrone 
said, — 

"  Now,  the  work  has  worn  him  out,  but 
if  I  could  sell  him  for  twenty  lire,  I  should 
still  have  made  a  good  thing  out  of  him." 

The  only  person  who  had  a  fondness  for 
the  young  ass  was  the  boy  who  made  it 
trot  over  the  road  on  the  way  from  the 
threshing-floor.  And  he  felt  badly  when 
the  farrier  burnt  its  legs  with  red-hot 
irons,  so  that  the  young  ass  squirmed  and 
flung  its  tail  into  the  air,  and  pricked  up 
its  ears,  and  when  it  ran  across  the  field  of 
the  fair,  and  it  tried  to  break  loose  from  the 
twisted  rope  which  they  fastened  to  its  lip, 
and  it  rolled  its  eyes  with  the  agony,  as  if 
it  were  undergoing  torture,  when  the  far- 
rier's apprentice  came  to  change  the  hot 
irons,  red  as  fire,  and  the  skin  smoked  and 
sizzled,  like  fish  in  a  frying-pan.  But 
compare  Neli  cried  to  his  boy, — 


146       UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

"  You  beast !  what  are  you  weeping 
for  ?  Now  that  he  is  played  out,  and 
since  the  harvest  has  been  a  good  one, 
we'll  sell  him  and  buy  a  mule,  and  that 
will  be  better." 

Boys  do  not  understand  some  things, 
and  after  the  young  ass  was  sold  to  mas- 
saro  Cirino,  of  Licodiana,  compare  Neli's 
son  used  to  visit  it  in  the  stall,  and  to 
caress  its  face  and  neck,  and  the  ass  would 
turn  round  its  head,  and  snuff  as  if  it  had 
become  attached  to  him,  while,  as  a  general 
thing,  asses  are  made  to  be  tied  wherever 
their  padrone  may  see  fit  to  tie  them,  and 
change  their  lot  as  they  change  their  stall. 

Massaro  Cirino,  of  Licodiana,  had  paid 
a  very  small  price  for  the  Saint  Joseph's 
ass,  because  it  still  bore  the  scars  on  its 
pastern,  and  compare  Neli's  wife,  when  she 
saw  the  poor  beast  go  by  with  its  new 
master,  said, — 

"That  beast  was  our  mascot.  That 
black  and  white  skin  brought  joy  to  the 
threshing-floor,  and  now  the  profits  are 


THE  STORY  OF   THE   ST.   JOSEPH'S   ASS.    147 

going  from  bad  to  worse,  for  we  have  had 
to  sell  the  mule,  too." 


Massaro  Cirino  had  yoked  the  ass  to  the 
plow,  together  with  an  old  mare  which 
matched  it  like  a  stone  in  a  ring,  and  drew 
her  brave  furrow  all  day  long,  for  miles  and 
miles,  from  the  time  the  lark  began  to  sing 
in  the  clear  morning  sky,  till,  with  quick 
and  hasty  flights,  and  melancholy  chirping, 
the  robin  red-breasts  ran  to  hide  behind 
the  naked  bushes,  trembling  with  cold 
under  the  mist  that  rose  like  a  sea. 

Only,  as  the  ass  was  smaller  than  the 
mare,  a  cushion  of  hay  was  put  over  the 
saddle  under  the  yoke,  and  it  had  hard 
work  to  break  up  the  frozen  clods,  by  dint 
of  chafed  shoulders. 

"It'll  help  spare  the  mare,  who's  get- 
ting old,"  said  massaro  Cirino.  "  It's  got  a 
heart  as  broad  and  big  as  the  Plain  of 
Catania,  that  Saint  Joseph's  ass  has !  and 
you  would  not  think  it  ! " 

And  he  added,  turning  to  his  wife,  who 


148       UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

had  followed  him,  wrapped  in  a  mantellina, 
penuriously  scattering  the  seed, — 

"  If  anything  should  happen  to  it  — 
Heaven  foref end  —  we  are  ruined  with  the 
prospects  before  us." 

The  woman  looked  forward  to  the  pros- 
pects of  crops  in  the  rocky,  desolate,  little 
field,  with  its  white  and  cracked  soil,  so 
long  had  it  been  since  the  rain  fell,  and  all 
the  water  it  got  came  in  the  form  of  mist 
and  fog,  of  the  kind  that  spoils  the  seed, 
and  when  it  was  time  to  dig  up  the  ground, 
it  was  so  yellow  and  hard,  that  you  would 
call  it  the  very  beard  of  the  devil,  as  if  it 
had  been  burnt  with  sulphur  matches  ! 

"  In  spite  of  the  crop  which  I  put  in," 
mourned  massaro  Cirino,  pulling  off  his 
doublet,  "  why,  that  ass  has  worked  himself 
to  death  like  a  stupid  mule.  That  ass  is 
under  a  curse  !  " 

His  wife  had  a  lump  in  her  throat  at  the 
sight  of  the  parched  field,  and  she  replied 
with  tears  rolling  from  her  eyes,  — 

"  The  ass  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  fail- 


THE    STORY   OF   THE    ST.   JOSEPH'S   ASS.    149 

ure.  It  brought  a  good  crop  to  compare 
Neli.  But  we  are  unfortunate." 

So  the  Saint  Joseph's  ass  changed  mas- 
ters once  more,  when  massaro  Cirino  re- 
turned from  the  field  with  the  sickle  over 
his  shoulder,  it  being  useless  even  to  try  to 
reap  that  year,  although  the  images  of  the 
saints  had  been  stuck  into  bamboo  sticks 
all  over  the  ground  for  protection,  and  two 
tarl  *  had  been  paid  to  the  priest  for  his 
blessing. 

"  It 's  the  devil  that  we  want  rather  than 
the  saints,"  said  massaro  Cirino,  irrever- 
ently, when  he  saw  all  those  stalks  standing 
up  like  crests,  which  even  the  ass  refused  to 
touch,  and  he  spat  up  towards  that  tur- 
quoise-colored sky,  so  relentlessly  cloudless. 

It  'was  then  that  compare  Luciano,  the 
carter,  meeting  massaro  Cirino,  as  he  was 
driving  back  the  ass  with  empty  saddle- 
bags, asked, — 

"What '11  you  take  for  that  Saint  Jo- 
seph's ass  ? " 

*  A  tarl  is  one-thirtieth  of  an  onza. 


150       UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

"  Anything  you  '11  give  me  !  Cursed  be 
he  and  the  saint  who  made  him  !  "  replied 
massaro  Cirino.  "  Now  we  have  n't  any 
more  bread  to  eat,  or  fodder  to  give  the 
beast," 

"  I  '11  give  you  fifteen  lire  for  it,  seeing 
that  you  are  ruined,  but  the  ass  is  n't  worth 
so  much,  for  it  won't  last  out  more  than 
six  months  !  See  how  thin  it  is ! " 

"  You  might  have  got  more  than  that," 
grumbled  massaro  Cirino's  wife,  after  the 
bargain  was  settled.  Compare  Luciano's 
mule  's  dead,  and  he  had  n't  money  enough 
to  buy  another.  Now  if  he  had  n't  bought 
our  Saint  Joseph's  ass,  he  would  n't  have 
known  what  to  do  with  his  cart  and  har- 
nesses ;  you  '11  see  that  ass  '11  be  a  fortune 
to  him." 

The  ass  was  set  to  work  drawing  the 
cart,  but  the  shafts  of  it  were  much  too 
high  for  it,  and  brought  all  the  weight  on 
its  shoulders,  so  that  it  would  not  have 
survived  even  six  months;  for  it  went 
limping  along  over  the  hilly  roads  under 


THE   STORY   OF    THE    ST.   JOSEPH'S    ASS.    151 

compare  Luciano's  cruel  cudgelling,  who 
tried  to  put  a  little  spirit  into  it ;  and  when 
it  went  down  hill,  the  case  was  even  worse, 
for  then  the  whole  load  rested  on  it,  and 
pushed  against  it  so  hard  that  it  had  to 
make  its  back  like  an  arch  to  hold  the  cart 
back,  and  push  with  those  poor  scarred 
legs,  and  people  would  laugh  to  see  it,  and 
when  it  fell  it  would  have  taken  all  the 
angels  of  Paradise  to  get  it  to  its  feet 
again.  But  compare  Luciano  knew  that  he 
carried  three  quintals  of  merchandise  more 
than  a  mule,  and  the  load  would  bring  him 
five  tart  a  quintal. 

"  Every  day  that  Saint  Joseph's  ass 
lives,"  said  he,  "  I  make  fifteen  tari,  and 
his  keep  costs  me  less  than  a  mule's 
would." 

Every  time  the  people  who  happened 
to  be  sauntering  along  behind  the  cart  saw 
the  poor  beast,  which  could  hardly  put  one 
leg  in  front  of  the  other,  arching  its  spine 
and  panting  heavily,  with  discouragement 
clouding  its  eye,  they  would  say,  — 


152       UNDER   THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

"  Block  the  wheel  with  a  rock,  and  let 
that  poor  creature  have  a  chance  to  get  its 
breath." 

But  compare  Luciano  would  reply,  — 
"  If  I  let  him  do  as  he  pleases,  I  should 
not  make  my  fifteen  tart  a  day.  His  hide  's 
got  to  pay  for  mine.  When  he  can't  do 
any  more  work  I  shall  sell  him  to  the  lime 
dealer;  for  the  beast  is  good  enough  for 
his  work.  I  tell  you  there's  no  truth  at 
all  in  the  idea  that  St.  Joseph's  asses  are 
vigliacchi.  Besides,  I  got  this  one  of 
massaro  Cirino  for  a  piece  of  bread,  after 
he  was  'poverished." 

In  this  way  the  Saint  Joseph's  ass 
passed  into  the  hands  of  the  lime- dealer, 
who  already  possessed  a  score  or  more  of 
asses  all  lean  and  moribund,  which  .carried 
his  sacks  of  plaster,  and  picked  up  a 
wretched  living  by  means  of  the  mouth- 
fuls  of  weeds  that  they  could  snatch  as 
they  went  along  the  road. 

The  lime-dealer   objected  to   the   Saint 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   ST.   JOSEPH'S   ASS.    153 

Joseph's  ass  because  it  was  covered  with 
worse  scars  than  his  other  beasts,  with  its 
legs  seared  by  the  hot  iron,  and  the  skin 
on  its  chest  worn  off  by  the  poitrel,  and 
the  withers  raw  by  the  chafing  of  the  plow, 
and  the  knees  barked  by  constant  falls, 
and  then  that  pelt  of  black  and  white 
seemed  to  him  so  inharmonious  among  his 
other  brown-skinned  animals. 

"That  makes  no  difference,"  replied 
compare  Luciano.  "Besides,  it  will  serve 
to  distinguish  your  asses  at  a  distance." 

But  he  deducted  two  tart  from  the  seven 
lire  that  he  had  asked,  so  as  to  bring  the 
business  to  a  settlement. 

Now  the  Saint  Joseph's  ass  would  not 
have  been  recognized  even  by  thzpadrona 
who  had  been  present  when  it  was  born, 
so  greatly  had  it  changed  as  it  stumbled 
along  with  its  nose  to  the  ground  and  its 
ears  curled  over  like  an  umbrella  under 
the  lime-dealer's  heavy  sacks,  twitching  its 
flanks  under  the  blows  of  the  youth  who 
drove  the  caravan.  But  then  the  padrona 


154       UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

herself  was  changed  at  that  time,  what  with 
the  bad  harvests  they  had  gathered  and 
the  hunger  from  which  she  had  suffered, 
and  the  fevers  which  they  had  all  con- 
tracted in  the  low  lands,  she  and  her 
husband  and  her  Turiddu,  while  they  had 
no  money  to  buy  any  more  quinine  at  the 
apothecary's  and  at  the  same  time  they  had 
no  more  asses  even  of  the  Saint  Joseph 
kind  to  sell  for  the  small  price  of  thirty- 
five  lire  I 

In  winter,  when  there  was  little  work 
and  the  wood  for  burning  the  lime  was 
scarce,  and  to  be  had  only  at  a  distance, 
and  the  frozen  paths  had  n't  a  leaf  on  their 
hedges  or  a  mouthful  of  stubble  along  by 
the  icy  gutters,  life  was  still  harder  for 
those  poor  brutes,  and  the  padrone  knew 
that  in  winter  not  half  as  much  was  eaten ; 
so  he  used  to  buy  a  good  stock  of  provi- 
sions in  the  spring. 

At  night  the  drove  remained  in  the  open 
air  near  the  lime-burners,  and  the  brutes 
clustered  together  for  protection  against 


THE    STORY   OF   THE    ST.   JOSEPH'S   ASS.    155 

the  cold.  But  those  stars  shining  like 
swords  through  and  through  them  in  spite 
of  their  thick  hides,  and  all  those  ulcer- 
eaten  beasts  shook  and  trembled  in  the 
cold  as  if  they  were  human  beings. 

But  then  there  are  many  Christians  who 
are  not  better  off,  not  having  even  such  a 
ragged  coat  as  that  wrapt  up  in  which  the 
herd-boy  slept  before  the  furnace. 

Near  by  there  lived  a  poor  widow  in  a 
dilapidated  hut,  more  tumble-down  by  far 
than  the  lime-furnace,  and  through  its  roof 
the  stars  penetrated  like  swords,  as  if  it 
were  no  roof  at  all,  and  the  wind  fluttered 
the  wretched  rags  of  her  covering.  At 
first  she  took  in  washing,  but  that  was 
meagre  pay,  for  the  people  thereabouts  do 
their  own  washing,  when  they  wash  at  all, 
and  now  that  her  little  boy  had  grown  she 
went  about  peddling  wood  in  the  village. 
No  one  had  known  her  husband  and  no 
one  knew  where  she  got  the  wood  that  she 
sold;  that  was  known  only  by  her  son, 
who  went  about  picking  it  up  here  and 


156       UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

there  at  the  risk  of  getting  shot  by  the 
campieri. 

"  If  you  only  had  an  ass ! "  the  lime- 
dealer  had  said  to  her,  hoping  that  he 
might  dispose  of  that  Saint  Joseph's  ass, 
which  was  good  for  nothing  more,  "  then 
you  could  take  down  to  the  village  much 
bigger  fagots,  now  that  your  son  is  getting 
to  be  grown  up." 

The  poor  woman  had  a  few  lire  in  the 
knot  of  her  handkerchief,  and  she  let  her- 
self be  persuaded  into  it  by  the  lime- 
burner,  because  it  is  said  that  "  old  things 
go  to  destruction  in  the  house  of  a  fool." 

One  thing  at  least  was  true :  the  poor 
Saint  Joseph's  ass  had  a  more  endurable 
existence  at  last,  because  the  widow  re- 
garded it  as  a  treasure  by  reason  of  the 
few  soldi  that  it  had  cost  her,  and  she 
went  out  nights  in  search  of  straw  and  hay 
for  ft,  and  she  kept  it  in  her  hut  next  her 
own  bed  because  its  vital  heat  was  as  good 
as  a  fire,  and  in  this  way  one  hand  washed 
the  other,  as  the  proverb  has  it. 


THE    STORY   OF    THE    ST.   JOSEPH'S   ASS.    157 

The  woman  driving  the  ass  loaded  with 
a  mountain  of  wood  so  that  its  ears  could 
not  be  seen,  built  air-castles  as  she  went, 
and.  her  son  ravaged  the  hedges,  and  risked 
his  life  in  the  borders  of  the  woodlands  to 
gather  together  his  load,  while  both  mother 
and  son  had  an  idea  that  they  were  going 
to  become  rich  by  that  business,  until, 
finally,  the  baron's  campiere  caught  the  boy 
breaking  off  branches,  and  gave  him  a  ter- 
rible beating. 

The  doctor,  for  the  price  of  curing  the 
lad,  devoured  all  the  spare  soldi  knotted  in 
the  handkerchief,  the  store  of  wood,  and 
whatever  else  vendible  she  had,  —  and  that 
was  not  much  in  all  conscience,  —  so  that 
the  widow  one  night  when  her  son  was  in 
a  raging  fever,  with  his  face  turned  to  the 
wall,  and  there  was  not  a  mouthful  of  bread 
in  the  house,  went  out,  raging  and  talking 
to  herself,  as  if  she,  too,  had  the  fever,  and 
she  went  to  break  off  an  almond-tree  near 
by  in  such  a  way  that  it  would  not  appear 
how  it  happened,  and  at  dawn  she  loaded 


158       UNDER   THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

it  on  the  ass  to  go  and  sell  it.  But  the  ass 
on  the  way  up  stumbled  under  the  weight, 
and  went  down  on  its  knees,  just  as  Saint 
Joseph's  ass  knelt  before  the  infant  Jesus, 
and  would  not  get  up  again. 

"  Souls  of  the  dead ! "  stammered  the 
woman,  "  won't  you  carry  this  load  of  wood 
for  me." 

And  the  passers-by  pulled  the  ass's  tail, 
and  they  bit  its  ears,  so  as  to  make  it  get 
up. 

"  Don't  you  see  it 's  dying  ? "  at  last  re- 
marked a  carter,  and  so  at  least  the  others 
let  it  alone,  because  the  ass  had  the  eye  of 
a  dead  fish,  a  cold  nose,  and  a  shudder  ran 
over  its  skin. 

The  woman,  meantime,  thought  of  her 
son,  who  was  delirious  with  fever,  and  a 
flushed  face,  and  cried,— 

"  Now  what  shall  we  do,  —  what  shall 
we  do?" 

"  If  you  will  sell  it,  and  all  the  wood  on 
its  back  for  five  tari,  I  '11  give  that  much," 
said  the  carter  who  had  an  empty  cart ;  and 


THE    DEATH    OF    THE    ST.    JOSEPH'S    ASS. 


THE    STORY  OF   THE   ST.   JOSEPH'S   ASS.    159 

as  the  woman  looked  at  it  with  squinting 
eyes,  he  added,  "  I  '11  only  take  the  wood, 
for  the  ass  is  n't  worth  that  —  " 

And  he  gave  a  kick  to  the  carcass,  which 
sounded  like  a  burst  drum. 


THE  BEREAVED. 


THE   BEREAVED. 

THE  little  girl  appeared  at  the  door, 
twisting  the  corner  of  her  apron  in 
her  fingers,  and  said, — 

"Here  I  am!" 

Then,  when  no  one  paid  any  attention  to 
her,  she  looked  shyly  first  at  one  and  then 
at  another  of  the  women  who  were  knead- 
ing dough,  and  spoke  again, — 

"They  told  me,  —  'Go  to  comare  Si- 
dora.' " 

"Come  here,  come  here,"  cried  comare 
Sidora,  red  as  a  tomato,  as  she  stood  in  the 
back  part  of  the  bake-shop.  "Wait  a 
moment,  and  I  '11  make  you  a  nice  cake." 

"It  means  they  are  bringing  comare 
Nunzia  the  Viaticum ;  they  Ve  sent  the 
little  girl  away,"  observed  the  woman  from 
Lacodia. 

One  of  the  women  engaged  in  kneading 
163 


1 64        UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

the  dough,  turned  her  head,  with  her  hands 
still  at  work  in  the  trough,  her  arms  bare 
to  the  elbow,  and  asked  the  little  girl, — 

"  How  is  your  step-mother  ? " 

The  child,  not  knowing  the  woman, 
looked  at  her  with  frightened  eyes,  and 
hanging  her  head,  and  nervously  working 
at  the  ends  of  her  apron,  said,  in  a  low 
voice,  between  her  set  teeth, — 

"  She  >s  in  bed." 

"Don't  you  see  'tis  the  Sacrament," 
replied  la  Licodiana.  "  Now  the  neigh- 
bors have  begun  to  scream  at  the  door." 

"  As  soon  as  I  finish  kneading  this 
dough,"  said  comare  Sidora,  "  I  '11  run  over 
a  moment  to  see  if  they  have  need  of  any- 
thing. Compare  Meno  loses  his  right  hand 
when  this  second  wife  of  his  dies." 

"  Some  men  have  no  luck  with  their 
wives,  just  as  some  are  unfortunate  with 
their  mules.  No  sooner  do  they  get  'em 
than  they  lose  'em.  There  's  comare  An- 
gela." 

"Yesterday  evening,"  observed  la  Lico- 


THE    BEREAVED.  165 

diana,  "  I  saw  compare  Meno  at  his  door  ; 
he  had  come  back  from  the  vineyard  before 
the  Ave  Marie,  and  was  blowing  his  nose 
on  his  handkerchief." 

"  But,"  suggested  the  woman  who  was 
kneading  the  dough,  "  he  is  a  master  hand 
at  killing  off  his  wives.  In  less  than  three 
years  already  two  of  curdtolo  *  Nino's 
daughters  have  been  eaten  up,  one  after 
the  other !  Wait  a  little  and  you  '11  see 
the  third  go  the  same  way,  and  all  curdtolo 
Nino's  things  wasted." 

"  Is  this  little  girl  comare  Nunzia's 
daughter,  or  his  first  wife's  ?  " 

"  She 's  his  first  wife's  daughter.  But  this 
one  has  been  just  as  kind  to  her  as  though 
she  had  been  her  own  mamma,  because 
the  little  orphan  was  her  niece,  you  know." 

The  child,  hearing  them  speaking  of 
herself,  began  to  weep  silently  in  a  cor- 
ner, thus  relieving  her  bursting  heart, 
which  she  had  till  then  kept  under  control, 
by  playing  with  her  apron. 

*  The  manager  of  a  farm,  not  a  tenant. 


1 66       UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

"  Come  here,  come  here,"  pursued  co- 
mare  Sidora.  "  The  nice  cake 's  ail  ready. 
There,  there  !  Don't  cry ;  for  your  mam- 
ma's  in  Paradise." 

The  little  girl  then  dried  her  eyes  with  her 
doubled  fists,  because  she  saw  that  comare 
Sidora  was  preparing  to  open  the  oven. 

"  Poor  comare  Nunzia !  "  said  a  neigh- 
bor, appearing  at  the  door.  "  The  grave- 
diggers  are  on  their  way.  They  just  passed 
by  here." 

"  Heaven  protect  me !  as  I  am  under 
Mary's  grace  ! "  *  exclaimed  the  women, 
crossing  themselves. 

Comare  Sidora  took  the  cake  out  of  the 
oven,  brushed  off  the  ashes,  and  handed  it, 
smoking  hot,  to  the  little  girl,  who  took  it 
in  her  apron  and  walked  away  slowly, 
slowly,  blowing  on  it  as  she  went.  - 

"  Where  are  you  going  ? "  cried  comare 
Sidora.  "  Stay  here  !  There 's  a  black- 
faced  ba-bau  at  your  house  who  carries 
folks  off." 

*  "  Lontano  sia!  che  sonjiglia  di  Maria!  " 


THE    BEREAVED.  167 

The  little  orphan  listened  gravely,  with 
wide-opened  eyes.  Then  she  replied  in 
the  same  obstinate  drawl, — 

"  I  am  going  to  carry  it  to  my  mamma." 

"Your  mamma  is  dead;  stay  here,"  said 
one  of  the  neighbors.  "  Eat  your  cake." 

Then  the  little  girl  squatted  down  on  the 
door-step,  the  image  of  sadness,  holding 
her  cake  in  her  hand  without  offering  to 
eat  it. 

Then  suddenly  seeing  "  il  babbo "  com- 
ing, she  jumped  up  joyously  and  ran  to 
meet  him. 

Compare  Meno  entered  without  saying 
a  word,  and  sat  down  in  a  corner,  with  his 
hands  dangling  between  his  knees,  with  a 
long  face,  and  his  lips  as  white  as  paper ; 
for  since  the  day  before,  he  had  not  put  a 
morsel  of  food  into  his  mouth  because  of 
his  grief.  He  looked  at  the  women  as  if  to 
say,— 

"Poveretto  me!" 

Seeing  the  black  handkerchief  around 
his  neck,  the  women,  with  their  hands  still 


1 68        UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

pasted  with  dough,  made  a  circle  round 
him  and  condoled  with  him  in  chorus. 

"Don't  speak  of  it  to  me,  comare 
Sidora,"  he  exclaimed,  shaking  his  head, 
and  heaving  up  his  great  shoulders. 
"  This  is  a  thorn  that  will  never  be  pulled 
out  of  my  heart.  That  woman  was  a  real 
saint !  I  did  not  deserve  her,  saving  your 
presence.  Only  day  before  yesterday, 
when  she  was  so  sick,  she  got  up  to  tend 
to  the  weaning  colt,  and  she  would  not  let 
me  call  in  the  doctor,  or  buy  any  medi- 
cine, either  —  so  as  to  not  waste  any 
money.  I  sha'n't  find  another  wife  like 
her.  No  I  sha'n't,  I  tell  you.  Let  me 
weep  —  I  've  good  reason  to." 

And  he  began  to  shake  his  head  and 
to  heave  his  shoulders  as  if  his  misfortune 
were  a  burden  not  to  be  borne. 

"  As  to  getting  another  wife,"  said  la 
Licodiana,  to  encourage  him,  "  all  you  Ve 
got  to  do  is  to  look  for  one." 

"  No  !  no  ! "  asseverated  compare  Meno, 
with  his  head  hung  low,  like  a  mule's. 


THE    BEREAVED.  169 

"  Such  another  wife  is  not  to  be  had. 
This  time  I  shall  remain  a  widower.  I 
tell  you  I  shall." 

Comare  Sidora  interrupted  him, — 
"  Don't  say  foolish  things  like  that.  You 
must  get  another  wife,  if  only  for  the  sake 
of  this  little  orphan  girl ;  for  otherwise,  who 
will  look  out  for  her  when  you  are  out 
working?  You  wouldn't  let  her  run  in 
the  streets,  would  you  ? " 

"  Then  find  me  another  wife  like  my  last 
one  !  She  would  not  wash  herself,  for  fear 
of  soiling  the  water;  and  at  home,  she 
served  me  better  than  a  farm-hand  —  affec- 
tionate and  faithful.  Why,  she  would  not 
take  even  a  handful  of  beans  from  the  rack, 
or  ever  open  her  mouth  to  ask  for  any- 
thing. And  beside,  a  fine  dowry  —  things 
as  good  as  gold.  And  I  Ve  got  to  give 
it  all  back  because  she  had  no  children. 
At  least,  so  the  sacristan  says,  when  he 
came  with  the  Holy  Water.  And  how 
kind  she  was  to  the  little  girl  who  reminded 
her  of  her  poor  sister.  Any  other  woman, 


170       UNDER    THE   SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

except  an  aunt,  would  have  cast  an  evil 
eye  on  her,  the  poor  little  orphan ! 

"  If  you  asked  curdtolo  Nino  for  his  third 
daughter,  it  would  make  things  all  right, 
both  for  the  orphan  and  for  the  dowry," 
suggested  la  Licodiana. 

"That's  what  I  say.  But  don't  speak 
of  it  to  me,  for  now  my  mouth  is  bitter  as 
gall" 

"I  wouldn't  talk  about  it  now,"  said 
comare  Sidora.  "  Eat  a  bit  of  something, 
compare  Meno.  You  are  all  tired  out." 

"  No  !  no  ! "  returned  compare  Meno  sev- 
eral times.  "  Don't  speak  to  me  of  eating, 
for  I  have  a  lump  in  my  throat." 

Comare  Sidora  placed  before  him  on  a 
stool  fresh  bread  with  ripe  olives,  a  piece 
of  sheep's-head  cheese,  and  a  jug  of  wine. 
And  the  poor  clumsy  fellow  set  to  work 
nibbling  at  it,  all  the  time  grumbling,  with 
a  long  face. 

"  Such  bread  as  she  made,"  he  observed 
with  a  quaver  in  his  voice,  "no  one  else 
could  ever  make.  Just  as  if  it  were  made 


THE    BEREAVED.  17  I 

of  real  meal.  And  with  a  handful  of  wild 
fennel,  she  would  make  a  soup  to  lick  your 
fingers  over !  Now  I  shall  have  to  buy 
bread  at  the  shop  of  that  thief,  mastro 
Puddo ;  and  as  for  hot  soup,  I  sha'n't  have 
any  more,  when  I  come  home  wet  as  a 
fresh-hatched  chicken.  And  I  shall  have 
to  go  to  bed  with  a  cold  stomach.  Only 
the  other  night,  while  I  was  watching  with 
her,  after  I  had  been  digging  and  grubbing 
all  day  on  the  hill,  and  caught  myself  snor- 
ing as  I  sat  next  the  bed,  so  tired  I  was, 
the  poor  soul  said  to  me :  '  Go  and  get  a 
mouthful  of  something  to  eat.  I  left  the 
soup  to  keep  hot  on  the  hearth/  And  she 
was  always  thinking  about  my  comfort, 
and  about  the  house,  and  whatever  was  to 
be  done,  and  this  thing  and  that  thing ;  and 
she  could  not  come  to  an  end  of  speaking 
or  of  giving  her  last  directions,  like  one 
who  is  going  off  on  a  long  journey,  and  I 
heard  her  constantly  muttering  between 
waking  and  sleeping.  And  how  content- 
edly she  went  off  to  the  other  world !  With 


172  UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

the  crucifix  on  her  breast,  and  her  hands 
folded  over  it.  She  has  no  need  of  Masses 
and  rosaries,  saint  that  she  was.  Money 
spent  on  the  priest  would  be  money  thrown 
away." 

"  World  of  tribulation ! "  exclaimed  a 
neighbor.  "Comare  Angela's  ass  is  like  to 
die  of  the  colic." 

"  But  my  misfortunes  are  heavier,"  ended 
compare  Meno,  wiping  his  mouth  with  the 
back  of  his  hand.  "  No,  don't  make  me 
eat  any  more,  for  the  mouthfuls  fall  like 
lumps  of  lead  into  my  stomach.  You  eat 
something,  you  poor  innocent,  for  you 
don't  understand  what  you  've  lost.  Now 
you  have  no  one  any  longer  to  wash  you 
and  brush  your  hair.  Now  you  have  n't  a 
mamma  any  more  to  shelter  you  under  her 
wings  like  a  setting  hen,  and  you  are  ruined, 
as  I  am.  I  found  her  for  you,  but  a  second 
stepmother  like  her  you  won't  get,  my 
daughter ! " 

The  child  with  bursting  heart  put  up  her 
lip  again,  and  stuck  her  fists  into  her  eyes. 


THE    BEREAVED.  173 

"  No,  you  can't  possibly  get  along  alone," 
interposed  comare  Sidora.  "  You  must  find 
another  wife  for  the  sake  of  this  poor  lit- 
tle motherless  girl,  left  in  the  midst  of  the 
street." 

"  And  how  shall  I  get  along  ?  And  my 
colt  ?  And  my  house  ?  And  who  '11  look 
after  the  hens?  Let  me  weep,  comare 
Sidora !  It  would  have  been  better  if  I 
had  died  instead  of  that  good  soul." 

"  Hush,  hush  !  you  don't  know  what  you 
are  saying,  and  you  don't  know  what  a 
house  without  its  head  is  !  " 

"That  is  true,"  assented  compare  Meno, 
comforted. 

"Just  take  example  from  poor  comare 
Angela !  First,  her  husband  died ;  then 
her  grown-up  son,  and  now  her  ass  is  also 
dying." 

"  The  ass  ought  to  be  bled  in  the  belly, 
if  it  has  the  colic,"  said  compare  Meno. 

"  Come,  you  know  all  about  such  things," 
suggested  the  neighbor.  "  Do  a  work  of 
charity  for  the  sake  of  your  wife's  soul." 


174       UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

Compare  Meno  got  up  to  go  to  comare 
Angela's,  and  the  little  orphan  ran  behind 
him  like  a  chicken,  now  that  she  had  no 
one  else  in  the  world.  Comare  Sidora, 
good  housewife  that  she  was,  called  him 
back. 

"  And  the  house  ?  How  have  you  left 
it,  now  that  there  is  no  one  there  to  look 
after  it  ? " 

"  I  locked  the  door,  and  besides  cousin 
Alfia  lives  opposite,  and  will  keep  an  eye 
on  it." 

Neighbor  Angela's  ass  lay  stretched 
out  in  the  midst  of  the  yard,  with  his 
muzzle  cold  and  his  ears  hanging,  every 
now  and  then  kicking  his  four  legs  into 
the  air  whenever  the  colic  made  him  draw 
in  his  sides  like  a  pair  of  bellows.  The 
widow  crouching  in  front  of  him  on  the 
rocks,  with  her  hands  clenching  her  gray 
hair,  and  her  eyes  dry  and  despairing, 
was  watching  him,  pale  as  a  corpse. 

Compare  Meno  manoeuvred  round  the 
animal,  touching  his  ears,  looking  into  his 


THE  BEREAVED.  175 

lifeless  eyes,  and  when  he  saw  that  the 
blood  was  still  oozing  from  the  punctured 
vein  under  the  belly,  drop  by  drop,  and 
coagulating  in  a  black  mass  on  his  hairy 
skin,  he  remarked : 

"  So  you  've  had  him  bled,  have  you  ? " 

The  widow  fixed  her  dark  eyes  on  his 
face  without  speaking,  and  nodded  her 
"  yes." 

"  Then  there's  nothing  more  to  do,"  said 
compare  Meno,  and  he  continued  to  stare 
at  the  ass,  which  stretched  itself  out  on 
the  stones,  stiffly,  with  its  hair  all  rumpled, 
like  a  dead  cat. 

"It  is  God's  will,  sister!"  said  he  to 
comfort  her.  "We  are  ruined,  both  of 
us!" 

He  had  gone  round  by  the  widow's  side 
and  squatted  down  on  the  stones,  with  his 
little  daughter  between  his  knees,  and  both 
of  them  continued  to  gaze  at  the  poor 
beast,  which  from  time  to  time  threshed 
the  air  with  its  legs  as  if  it  were  in  the 
agonies  of  death. 


176       UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

Comare  Sidora,  when  she  had  got  the 
bread  safely  out  of  the  oven,  also  came 
into  the  yard  with  the  cousin  Alfia,  who 
had  put  on  her  new  gown  and  wore  her 
silk  handkerchief  on  her  head,  all  ready 
for  a  bit  of  gossip,  and  comare  Sidora  said 
to  compare  Meno,  drawing  him  aside,  — 

"  Curdtolo  Nino  won't  give  you  his  third 
daughter,  for  at  your  house  the  women  die 
off  like  flies,  and  he  loses  the  dowry. 
And  then  la  Santa  is  too  young,  and 
there 's  the  risk  that  she  'd  fill  your  house 
with  children." 

"If  only  one  could  be  sure  of  boys! 
But  there 's  always  the  danger  of  girls 
coming.  Oh,  I  am  so  unfortunate  !  " 

"  Well,  there 's  the  cousin  Alfia.  She  is 
no  longer  young,  and  she  has  property,  — 
the  house  and  a  bit  of  vineyard."* 

Compare  Meno  fixed  his  eyes  on  the 
cousin  Alfia,  who  with  her  arms  a-kimbo 
was  pretending  to  look  at  the  ass,  and  then 
he  said,  "  That 's  so  !  One  might  think  of 
that.  But  I  am  so  very  unlucky  !  " 


THE  BEREAVED.  177 

Comare  Sidora  interrupted  him, — 

"  Think  of  those  who  are  more  unlucky 
than  you  are  ! " 

"No  one  is,  I  tell  you.  I  shall  never 
find  another  wife  like  her,  I  shall  never  be 
able  to  forget  her,  even  if  I  married  ten 
times.  And  this  poor  little  orphan  will 
never  forgot  her,  either." 

"  Calm  yourself  !  You  '11  forget  her  fast 
enough.  And  the  little  girl  will  forget  her, 
too.  Didn't  she  forget  her  own  mother? 
But  just  look  at  poor  neighbor  Angela, 
whose  ass  is  dying,  and  she  has  n't  got 
anything  else.  She'll  never  be  able  to 
forget  it." 

Comare  Alfia  saw  that  it  was  a  favorable 
moment  for  her  to  approach,  and  drawing 
a  long  face,  she  began  to  eulogize  the 
dead  woman.  She  had  with  her  own 
hands  helped  to  lay  her  out  on  the  bier, 
and  had  put  over  her  face  a  fine  linen 
handkerchief,  of  which  she  had -a  goodly 
store,  as  may  be  imagined. 

Then    compare    Meno,    with    his    heart 


178       UNDER    THE    SHADOW    OF    ETNA. 

melting  within  him,  turned  to  his  neighbor 
Angela,  who  was  sitting  motionless,  as  if 
she  had  been  turned  to  stone. 

"  I  suppose  you  '11  have  the  ass  skinned 
won't  you  ?  At  least  get  some  money  for 
his  pelt." 


14  DAY  USE 

"URN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


151961. 


Tcr 


'5-4  -3 


TO  ART- 


ANTHRO  LIBRARY 


MAY  1  V  1961 


%— 2'05-lPM 


LOAN  UEPT. 


4    1969 


RECEIVED 


',  t 


lfc-m-3^-4- 


LD  21**d!!!-l4/<6   1976    9    Q. General  Librar 


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YC138581 


